Focus
   Sustainable use of groundwater in Syria
By Fadil Rida,
Aden Aw-Hassan and Adriana Bruggeman
Policy decisions can have short- and long-term impacts on agriculture and the management of natural resources. Given that farmers respond to policy options in different ways and in accordance with their personal needs, it is crucial to determine the aggregate effects of their actions in order to evaluate the levels of success of the policies. ICARDA has conducted studies to determine how farmers respond to policy changes and recommended options that may contribute to the sustainability of groundwater use in Syria.

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A dried groundwater well. Though more than 140,000 groundwater wells have been constructed in Syria in the past two decades, many have now dried up.
n Syria, agricultural production plans are drawn every year for the main products, and guaranteed prices of strategic crops such as wheat and cotton are set. Farmers participating in the production plans receive direct input subsidies in the form of seeds, fertilizers, and farm equipment. They also have greater access to low-interest loans for input purchases.

These policy actions have had a significant impact on agriculture and natural resources in Syria. Since the initiation of the policies, the area for high water consuming crops such as cotton, maize, sugar beet, and wheat has expanded. Whereas the use of irrigation has been on the rise since the 1960s as part of the development process, the twofold increase in the past two decades—from 0.6 in the early 1980s to over 1.2 million ha in late 1990s—was drastic. Thus, a significant agricultural area has shifted from rainfed to irrigated agriculture. The use of groundwater for irrigation has also significantly increased, with more than 60 percent of all irrigated areas using groundwater sources.

Surface irrigation for summer crops.
As a result, successes have been recorded: at least in the short-term. Increased irrigation has enabled more intensive use of fertilizers and the adoption of high yielding varieties which have contributed to an increase in agricultural production. For instance, during the period 1987-1996, the production of cotton rose from 160 to 230 thousand tons, an average growth of 6 percent annually. Wheat production increased from 1.6 to over 4 million tons in the same period.

However, the long-term impact of these policies is yet to be determined. ICARDA scientists have been studying the effect of subsidized fuel on the use of water on farms, the sustainability of using groundwater sources, the relationship between cropping patterns and groundwater depletion and how the increased use of groundwater would impact the water-scarcity situation.
Groundwater irrigation on a farm in one of the study sites.
A study conducted during 1999-2000 on the sustainability of groundwater for irrigation in rainfall stability zones 1 to 4 in Aleppo province found that cotton has contributed considerably to groundwater depletion in most of the villages where it is grown. In these water-scarce villages, the traditional rainfed barley and livestock system was replaced by a groundwater-based farming system.

Although groundwater irrigation has created employment opportunities in the short-term, it has led to out-migration to cities and neighboring countries in the medium-term. The impact of dried wells or sharp drops in well yields on the incomes and livelihoods of farm families relying on well-irrigation is significant, and those who can no longer sustain themselves on rainfed crops migrate to urban centers.
Water Project Benchmark Sites Launched in Egypt, Morocco, and Jordan
ICARDA has launched a new comprehensive water project, involving ten countries in the WANA region. The project, entitled “Community-based optimization of the management of scarce water resources in agriculture in West Asia and North Africa,” is cosponsored by the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the NARS of the cooperating countries.
The project aims at increasing the impact of technologies that contribute to improved agricultural productivity, resource conservation, and livelihoods in those areas where water is most scarce. All three major agricultural production environments of WANA are addressed: the rainfed cropping systems, the drier areas (badia), and the fully irrigated areas. Research will be conducted with farming communities at benchmark and satellite sites in these three environments. The rainfed benchmark site, with research focus on supplemental irrigation, is located in Morocco, while complementary research activities are conducted at satellite sites in Algeria, Syria, and Tunisia. Jordan will host the badia water-harvesting benchmark site with satellite sites in Libya and Saudi Arabia. For the irrigated areas, the benchmark site is located in Egypt and satellite sites will be established in Iraq and Sudan.
Workshops were organized in Egypt, Morocco, and Jordan by the Natural Resources Management Program and ICARDA’s regional offices for the Nile Valley and Red Sea, North Africa and West Asia, and the respective NARS to plan and initiate project activities.
For the irrigated benchmark site in Egypt, a workshop was held in Cairo on 6-8 January 2004. More than 40 participants from Egypt, Sudan, Iraq and Jordan attended the workshop. The Badia Benchmark Workshop, held on 19-23 October 2003 in Amman, Jordan attracted more than 50 participants. The Rainfed Benchmark Planning Workshop, to discuss site selection and plan research activities for Morocco, was held on 11-14 November 2003 in Rabat.
Researchers also found that due to the absence of alternative investment options in water-scarce villages, farmers enter into a chain of investments and reinvestments in well drilling, well deepening and horizontal drilling. Such investment is risky, as drilling failures can lead to severe losses. Evidence in the villages studied indicated that many farmers failed to repay loans used for drilling. Accordingly, they had to abandon their land and migrate to cities or neighboring countries to search for employment opportunities.

Nearly all groundwater irrigation pumps use diesel, but many farmers do not consider diesel as a production constraint since prices are highly subsidized. Consequently, they over-irrigate particularly during the early stages of crop growth when well-water yield is relatively higher than at later stages. Researchers estimated that farmers in all stability zones allocated between 14,000 and 16,000 cubic meters per hectare for cotton which is higher than the average crop water requirement estimated at 12,000 cubic meters per hectare.

Though surface irrigation has been the principal method in all stability zones, modern irrigation technologies, such as drip and sprinkler systems, have been recently introduced. However, farmers in the villages in the study area were not aware of these modern irrigation technologies—and many consider that such technologies fail to provide sufficient amounts of water for their crops. When the researchers simulated a situation where diesel fuel costs were increased by 50%, cotton farming was not profitable in all stability zones. Vegetables, deficit irrigation of wheat and livestock production could be viable options in these areas.

The study concluded that market-based fuel prices could have a positive impact on the efficiency of groundwater use, fuel consumption and cropping patterns in Syria. In addition, eliminating subsidies could provide farmers with the incentive to adopt activities with higher profit for achieving higher both per unit energy and water productivity. Absence of interventions in price determination for both inputs and outputs in the agricultural sector is likely to contribute to the sustainability of agricultural resources and increase farmers’ incomes. Also, modern technologies for irrigation water conservation are necessary to raise the productivity of water used in agriculture. The government is promoting new irrigation technologies by providing subsidies and through the extension system.

The research team recommended that for farmers to adopt the new technologies for irrigation-water conservation, extensionists need to do more to educate farmers on the benefits of the technologies and dispel misconceptions.


Dr Fadil Rida (f.rida@CGIAR.ORG) is a Computer Applications Specialist with ICARDA; Dr Aden Aw-Hassan is Agricultural Economist; and Dr Adriana Bruggeman is an Agricultural Hydrology Specialist at ICARDA.
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