The analysis of the data collected from 22 locations in the Middle Zone and Ribera Alta of Navarra reveals that farmers have two main threats: climate variability, increasing due to climate change, and volatility in vegetable prices. Researcher Amaia Albizua Aguinaco suggests that “the vulnerability of Navarros farmers is related to irrigation policies that favor large-scale intensive agriculture.” Albizu has carried out this work as part of his doctoral thesis, together with Unai Pascual García de Azilu and Esteve Corbera Elizalde.

“The governments of Navarre and Spain developed the Itoraid-Canal de Navarra irrigation project to promote the development of agriculture, improve rural livelihoods and combat climate change,” explains Albizu, “but our research has shown that this project has made farmers more vulnerable.” The irrigation project has made small farmers who were vulnerable by themselves more vulnerable by increasing inequalities in land and water availability. Large-scale intensive farms that have participated in the irrigation project and are its users, have greater ease of adapting to the threats mentioned, but, on the contrary, have greater dependence on institutions and are more sensitive to future changes, such as climate change or institutional change.

“To address this trend, we believe that agricultural public policies should not support or support large-scale irrigation systems and promote small-scale and more diverse agriculture,” says Albizu. “Other studies show that large-scale irrigation is not suitable for agriculture, as they in the long term render the effects of irrigation invisible to the environment and reduce the development of other adaptation alternatives or alternatives.”

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