Infrastructure maintenance in the irrigation districts of Mexico

Abstract

In Mexico, the surface area dedicated to agriculture is approximately 21,000,000 hectares (51,892,130 acres); of that, 6,400,000 (15,814,744 acres) are accounted for by irrigation infrastructure and 3,500,000 (8,648,688 acres) correspond to 86 irrigation districts. Irrigated farming generates more than half of the national agricultural production, using infrastructure in good working order through maintenance work carried out at the required frequency. The main problems of infrastructure maintenance are the accumulation of sediments, terrestrial and aquatic weed, shape and conformation roads, and electromechanics and civil works in structures. The present work analyses the main maintenance works, the distribution of costs of infrastructure maintenance and the general impact of the maintenance works on the irrigation districts' productivity.