4610.0.55.008 - Gross Value of Irrigated Agricultural Production, 2000-01 to 2009-10  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 29/11/2011   
   Page tools: Print Print Page Print all pages in this productPrint All


VOLUME OF WATER APPLIED

  • In 2009-10, the total volume of water applied for irrigation in Australia was 6.6 million megalitres (ML). The three commodities in Australia using the highest irrigation volume were livestock grazing, which used 1.7 million ML, cotton using 852,000 ML and sugar cane using 756,000 ML for irrigation.
  • In the Murray Darling Basin (MDB) region, the total volume of irrigation water applied in 2009-10 was 3.6 million ML, which was 54% of the total volume of irrigation water applied in Australia. The commodities with the highest volume of irrigated water applied in the MDB were cotton with 764,000 ML, livestock grazing with 722,000 ML and cereals for grain using 469,000 ML.
  • Livestock grazing was also the commodity with the largest volume of irrigation in the majority of states, with Victoria applying 798,000 ML and South Australia applying 214,000 ML in 2009-10. However, New South Wales and Queensland applied the most irrigation water to cotton, with New South Wales applying 469,000 ML and Queensland 383,000 ML. In the territories, fruit was the commodity with the highest in the Northern Territory at 8,000 ML, and in the Australian Capital Territory nursery production irrigation was highest at 142 ML.
Graph Image for Volume of Water Applied, 2009-10(a)

Footnote(s): (a) Data reported as zero value may not be available for publication. See data cubes for further information.

Source(s):