During 2025, total of 78 717 thous.m3 of water were abstracted for irrigation by legal entities, being by 17.9% more than in the previous year. Water was mostly pumped from water currents (93.7%), while the rest of quantities were abstracted from the groundwater and other sources.
Sprinkling was the most used type of irrigation. Of the total irrigated surface, 89.2% were irrigated by sprinkling, 10.4% by drop-by-drop and only 0.4% by surface irrigation.
During 2025, in the Republic of Serbia, 47 543 ha of agricultural land were irrigated by legal entities, 2.3% less than in the previous year. Of the total irrigated area, arable land and gardens accounted for 92.9% of the irrigated area, followed by orchards (share of 6.5%) and other agricultural land (share of 0.6%).
Table 1. Abstracted water for irrigation, by type of water abstraction source
| 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 66742 | 78717 |
| From groundwater | 3326 | 3793 |
| From watercourses | 61941 | 73767 |
| From other sources | 1474 | 1157 |
Table 2. Irrigation of surfaces under crops/plantations and type of irrigation, ha
| 2025 | Type of irrigation | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Surface | Sprinkling | Drop by drop | ||
| Total | 47543 | 190 | 42418 | 4935 |
| Arable land and gardens | 44204 | 91 | 42245 | 1869 |
| Orchards | 3076 | 4 | 76 | 2997 |
| Other | 263 | 96 | 98 | 69 |
More tables for this topic:
Methodological explanations
Starting from 1999 the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia has not at disposal and may not provide available certain data relative to AP Kosovo and Metohija and therefore these data are not included in the coverage for the Republic of Serbia (total).
Methodological explanations on irrigation can be found on the SORS website link
Data series on irrigation from the reference year 2009 are available within the SORS database: http://data.stat.gov.rs/Home/Result/25010204?languageCode=sr-Cyrl, and as a part of the SORS publications: https://www.stat.gov.rs/sr-Cyrl/publikacije