Agriculture
The Marksovsky district is an area of intensive agricultural production. Most people in the region are working in the agricultural sector (Fig. 8). Arable lands are covering 195,400 ha of the Marksovsky District. The crops constitute of around 50% cereals, 1% vegetables and potatoes, 20% technical plants and 20% forage. The number of livestock in the Marksovsky district is 32,300 heads, of which 13,000 cows, 26,600 pigs, 15,800 sheep and 276,000 birds.
Fig. 10: Field at Marksovsky District
Water resources are pivotal for the agriculture in this region. The region has ample water resources. The average long term river flow from sources located within the Saratov Region's boundaries is 264.8 km3/year. Estimated resources of underground water use are 1.98 km3/year. However, the Volga River has multiple uses, like for hydropower generation, irrigation, navigation and fishery. Therefore water resources should be managed in an adequate manner, taking into account all water users as well as the ecology of the river system.
Every irrigated hectare of land in Markovsky District gives about 40 - 45 centers of forage. Around 75% of the forage yield is provided by irrigated agriculture. However, irrigated land requires financial expenditures for repairing and exploitation of pumping stations, canals and other structures. The main cause of the decreasing area for irrigation is the bad condition of structures and ageing of the irrigation network. The main canals and distribution network of irrigation system are in exploitation for more than 30 years, but these structures already finished their resources. There is a need for quite a big financial support to repair or replace these structures. As these structures belong to state, the financial problem is imposed on governmental services.
