CROATIA SAVA DRAINAGE

closed

The project is part of Croatia's long-term flood control and drainage development program for the Sava River Basin. The project would drain 44,000 ha of land. It would increase available arable land by 19,700 ha, increase crop yields and cropping intensity on 24,300 ha of land, raise productivity and income of the rural population and create employment in an area where there is considerable underemployment. The increased food production on the drained land would substitute for imports and cater to increasing domestic demand. The project would also establish extension and land consolidation programs which would further increase productivity in the project area and would strengthen institutions involved in the project through the provision of technical assistance and training of key staff. The project would directly benefit about 5,200 individual farm families and the members of seven social sector enterprises. In addition the food gardens of some 8,000 non-farm families would benefit from a lowering of the water table. Increased availability of arable land and use of fertilizers would shift crop production patterns of individual farmers.