The analysis of the state of ameliorative complex of Southen Federal District in 1990 and 2012 was done which included the irrigated areas, cropping patterns at irrigated lands, ameliorative state of the lands, and the availability of sprinkling equipment. According to the calculations of researchers and the specialists of the Ministry of Agriculture of Russian Federation, in order to get guarantied yields and reduce the dependence on weather conditions, the area of ameliorative lands in Russia by 2030 should be extended up to 18 million hectares including 10 million hectares of irrigated lands and 8 million hectares of drained lands what will be about 15 % of all arable lands of Russian Federation. The area of irrigated lands in Southen Federal District can be enlarged up to 2 million hectares (accounting the existing water and land resources) by 2030 due to the use of water resources of the Volga and enlarging the irrigated areas in the Republic of Kalmykia and the Volgograd region, as well as the trans-fer of the part of water resources from the Volga to the Don and the development of irrigation in the Rostov region. The new construction of 500 thousand hectares of irrigated lands is re-quired about 110 milliard rubles (according to prices of 2010).
Keywords: land reclamation, irrigation, irrigated land area, cropping pattern, ameliorative state.
