Last week, Prime Minister Tony Abbott visited Tasmania and announced that five new irrigation networks were in the pipeline.

Mr Abbott said the schemes would deliver an extra 40,000 megalitres of water to Tasmanian farmers. The five schemes, if approved, will be built and managed by Tasmanian Irrigation, and have already received a $30 million commitment from the state government, while $27 million will come from the private sector.

The new schemes will go to Scottsdale, Swan Valley, Southern Highlands, Circular Head and North Esk projects, pending approval of their business cases. Mr Hutchinson said the Southern Highlands scheme would have a direct impact on Swansea and the greater East Coast region.

"This will provide jobs, both full-time and indirect, across rural Tasmania where they are so desperately needed," he said.

"This is about capitalising on our natural strengths in Tasmania - that is water and agriculture."

Eureka Farm owner Denis Buchanan, near Scamander, said the scheme would be a huge boost.

"Down near Swansea, it's very dry, especially before Christmas," he said. "A lot of the farmers have been worried about how they were going to cope. It's going to make a great difference. Water has always been an issue on the East Coast."