RIVER CHERAVA WATERSHED:
STATE OF THE ENVIRONMENT REPORT

Oliver Avramoski, ALLCOOP, Macedonia

Environmental concerns in agriculture and soil protection

Agricultural production has had adverse effects on the environment in the watershed due to soil erosion, excess nutrients, animal waste, and pesticides. Soil erosion leads to physical degradation of the topsoil, preventing valuable rainwater to infiltrate, and causing the water to drain away and be lost for food production. Also, through soil erosion and surface water runoff pesticides and excess nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, can pollute nearby surface waters. Animal waste can also pollute nearby rivers and streams, if not managed efficiently.

Agriculture is an important sector of the economy in the entire watershed. The climate and pedological conditions in the watershed are suitable for intensive and effective agricultural production provided that water is available through irrigation. Agriculture is the main source of employment on the Albanian side of the watershed and will remain so for years to come although the transition period led to a significant decline in agricultural production in both Albania and Macedonia. Consequently, agricultural water pollution has significantly decreased due to the reduction in the use of agrochemicals (fertilizers and pesticides). In Albania, currently the actual use of fertilizers is below the optimum level for agricultural production and does not pose serious environmental problems. However, agricultural sector in the Albanian part is recovering from the privatization process and has shown a relatively steady annual growth rate. On the whole, agriculture in the watershed is increasingly capable of providing food even for people outside the watershed, and agriculture may again become a major source of water and soil pollution unless good agricultural practices are applied.

Discharges from livestock farms pose a serious source of pollution in certain parts of the watershed, particularly on the Albanian side. After the privatization of agriculture in early 1990s livestock numbers steadily increased because of low capital requirements and the growing demand for animal products. It can be expected that continuous improvement of domestic breed rearing and selection and greater access to veterinary treatment will further increase livestock production. Although waste-water from animal farms might not be considered a priority now, the production and discharge of cattle manure from the numerous small-scale farmers (2-3 cows, 10-20 sheep and goats) will have to be tackled in the near future.

The agriculture in the watershed is an important economical sector and one of the most important sources of enviornmental degradation

The Albanian part of the watershed has traditionally been an agricultural area and will remain so for the foreseeable future. Therefore, poverty is inextricably connected to the quality of agricultural production. It is commonly claimed that poverty leads to environmental degradation. The important question to answer is whether poverty causes environmental degradation or if the reverse is true. Possibly, poverty is both cause and effect of environmental degradation, creating a damaging cycle that can only be broken through reform and external intervention in the form of aid, analysis, and advice. The development of agriculture in the watershed, therefore, can help eradicate poverty or exacerbate it, depending on the form that development takes. Small inefficient farms located on low productivity lands, over-intensive grazing and misuse of steep slopes are the major obstacles for the development of sustainable agricultural production in Albania. In this part of the watershed the agricultural sector suffers from a lack of capital and credit facilities, a lack of marketing links and transport facilities. Roads are poor and scarce, and communities isolated. Mechanization is difficult to develop on small plots, and its availability is limited. Irrigation offers an opportunity to produce two or three crops of vegetables per year. However, land distribution and the social upheavals in 1991 resulted in substantial damage to the irrigation and drainage systems, and to the soil erosion protection works. Moreover, surface irrigation methods dominate and water use efficiencies do not exceed 60 per cent. In the Macedonian part of the watershed the unclear ownership of agricultural land and organizational problems associated with oversized facilities are the main obstacles to improving the poor performance of the agricultural cooperative Gorica.