New solutions for water-use efficiency in Tunisia: study visit of the PROSIM project visit in the Mahdia pilot area
The PROSIM project aims at implementing innovative solutions for water-use efficiency and use of non-conventional water in agriculture, thus reducing water stress in selected areas of the Mediterranean basin, such as Mahdia in Tunisia.
In this region, a reverse osmosis desalination system will be installed to manage 400m3 of water per day, making it possible for a minimum of 30 local farmers to improve the quality of the water used and increase the productivity of their crops.
This technology will be integrated with an Excel tool implemented by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), processing input parameters on water quality and crop water requirements entered manually and returning the best mix of water qualities and quantities.
On Tuesday 21st January, a delegation of ICU - Institute for University Cooperation (lead beneficiary of the project) and the Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture organized a site visit in Mahdia with the local CRDA (Commissariat Régional au Développment Agricole) and the board of "Bir Belkamel" GDA (Groupement de Développement Agricole) composed by local farmers, responsible for the area where project activities will be implemented.
During the visit, participants had the chance of presenting their expectations towards the project and to kick-off the preliminary activities aimed at analyzing the fields where the technologies will be applied. In this regard, the activities foreseen by PROSIM project give to opportunity to increase the performance of local crops and could represent a best practice to be replicated in other areas facing similar agricultural issues.
The PROSIM project (“Promoting Sustainable Irrigation Management and non-conventional water use in the Mediterranean”) aims to reduce pressure on water resources by implementing improved irrigation solutions that ensure an increased water-use efficiency and a larger use of non-conventional water. The activities to be implemented in Tunisia have the objective of becoming a scalable practice for local farmers in order to increase the productivity of their crops, while reducing water resource use.
For more information, please follow the project website.