Ultra-Low Energy Drip Irrigation for MENA Countries

OUR IMPACT

Goals

Improvement of sustainable and long term access to water for people living in Mena countries. This will enhance food security by an increment of productivity from irrigated agricultural system and efficient use of water resources.

Objectives

The objective of this project is to design and field validate ultra-low pressure drip irrigation systems for the MENA region that will cut pumping energy by 50% (for electric or diesel pumps), enable drip systems to run on low-pressure municipal water supplies, and facilitate the dissemination of low-cost, solar-powered drip irrigation solutions. New designs for on-line drip emitters and in-line drip emitters will be developed.

Impact Pathway

The project aims and research activities are particularly oriented on the diffusion and adoption of knowledge and technologies for the adoption of ultra-low pressure drip irrigation systems for the MENA region that will cut pumping energy by 50%. This will be possible thanks to new and developed tools that will be available for tests and utilization in the selected area. ICARDA staff will oversee the installation of the drip systems and data acquisition instrumentation on all test farms in Morocco. They will provide training on the use and maintenance of the equipment to all participating farmers. Throughout both pilots, the ICARDA staff will regularly meet with the test farmers and collect qualitative data about the drip technology. Through frequent visits to the test farmers, they will be able to spot problems before they are detected by the data recorders. They will also respond to any issues noticed by the MIT team through data monitoring and troubleshoot the drip systems on site as appropriate. Following each pilot, ICARDA will conduct a comprehensive survey with each farmer to understand their experience with our technology and its efficacy, and identify user-centered factors that cannot be collected using data measurements. The main sites will be in Morocco and Jordan. By all these analyses, hundreds of ha will be converted to drip irrigation in the following years with consequent improvement in natural resources management and agricultural productivity by sustainable technologies. This will enhance food security situation with positive consequences in the reduction of land abandonment and migration from rural areas to the cities.