CASE STUDY FROM SYRIA

SURVEY ON IRRIGATION MODERNIZATION

Old Alyarmook Project Alyarmook Basin, Southern Syria

Prepared by Maher Salman

September 2002

CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION

2 PART A: BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE MODERNIZED IRRIGATION PROJECT

2.1 General
2.2 Land tenure structure
2.3 Irrigation and drainage system
2.4 Soils
2.5 Crop water requirements and cropping patterns
2.6 Water management

3 PART B: MODERNIZATION PROCESS

3.1 Causes
3.2 Steps and implementation of modernization
3.3 Institutional aspects
3.4 System performance evaluation prior to modernization

4 PART C: MODERNIZATION IMPACTS

4.1 Governance
4.2 Water rights, equity, and allocation
4.3 Water service providing and water distribution
4.4 Water service fee structure
4.5 Others

5 PART D: KEY FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

6 REFERENCES

7 PHOTO GALLERY

Old Alyarmook Project

Alyarmook Basin, Southern Syria

Syria is classified amongst the semi arid countries of the Middle East. It has a population of 18 millions in the year 2002, and its Total Renewable Water Resources (TRWR) is estimated around 16 BCM per year. In other words, the per capita TRWR is now 888 m³/person/year or less than the water scarcity index limit of 1000 m³/person/year. Although this would still rank Syria amongst countries with moderate water stress, it will be soon classified as a country with a severe water stress if its population continues to grow at its current rate (about 3%) and the efficiency of water use is not increased effectively.

In Syria, agriculture is the largest water-consuming sector accounting for about 85% of water use followed by municipal and industrial sectors which stand at about 9% and 4% respectively. While the urban water demand is rapidly increasing due to the strong population rate and industrial growth, new water sources are becoming scarce and extremely expensive to develop. Water deficits are expected to worsen placing additional stress on all uses. Since municipal water needs are given top priority in the government's policy, water availability for agriculture use could face severe constraints.

Agriculture dominates the Syrian economy. It contributes about 32% to the country GDP, and employs nearly 31% of the work force, with another 50% of the manufacturing force dependent on it for employment. In 1998 the cultivated area in Syria was estimated at 5.5 million ha, which accounts for about 30% of the total country area. 20% of the cultivated land area (1.2 million ha) was irrigated. The total irrigated area increased from 650,000 ha in 1985 to 1.3 million ha in 2002.

Until recently, emphasis has been put on the augmentation of new water supplies to meet the increasing water demand while issues like the modernization of irrigation, as an option for better use of available water, has been given less attention. As new water sources have become increasingly inaccessible and the cost of projects to augment water supply has become very high, the emphasis has been shifted to other alternatives of efficient use of water such as the modernization of irrigation and the implementation of demand management. This paper describes the progress that has been made on irrigation modernization (technical and managerial upgrading) in Syria through studying an irrigation scheme that is currently under the upgrading phase.

2. PART A: BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE MODERNIZED IRRIGATION PROJECT:

2.1 General:

The project of Old Alyarmook is part of Alyarmook Basin located in Southern Syria at some 10 km Northwest of Daraa city (Figure 1-A). It has an irrigated area of 71650 ha supplied by a group of springs situated within the project area (Figure 1-B).

The project consists of four main irrigation networks: lower network, middle network, upper network, and Alajami-Zeizoun canal.

The lower network was developed in 1940s for the purpose of irrigating 2200 ha of the total project area with a designed discharge of 1222 l/sec to be entirely taken from Almzerib Lake. The lower network by itself consists of two main irrigation canals: Canal A with a length of 1045 m and a command area of 825 ha, and Canal B with a length of 6460 m and a command area of 1375 ha.

The middle network was developed in 1960s for the purpose of irrigating 2800 ha of the total project area with a designed discharge of 1264 l/sec to be taken from Zeizoun Lake, the Great Sakhne Spring, the Small Sakhne Spring, and Bandak Spring. The middle network consists of two main irrigation canals: Canal C with a length of 1300 m and a command area of 1656 ha, and Canal D with a length of 4600 m and a command area of 1144 ha.

The upper network was developed for the purpose of irrigating 1950 ha of the total project area with a designed discharge of 874 l/sec to be taken from Alashari Spring, Ioun Alabed Spring, Alghazwali Spring, and Alajami Spring. The upper network consists of two main irrigation canals: Canal E with a length of 8290 m and a command area of 1255 ha, and Canal F with a length of 4380 m and a command area of 695 ha.

Figure 1-A. Old Alyarmook project location (map source: University of Texas online library)

Figure 1-B. Old Alyarmook project layout (Source: Directorate of Alyamook Basin)

Alajami-Zeizoun Canal was developed for the purpose of irrigating 215 ha of the total project area with a designed discharge of 118 l/sec to be taken from Alajami Spring and has a length of 3100 m. Table 1 shows a schematic demonstration of the different parts of the project and their designed specifications.

The project area has an average rainfall of 390 mm with a great irregularity throughout the year as regards months since most of the rainfall occurs during the months of November-April.

Table 1. Designed specification of different parts of Old Alyarmook Project

2.2 Land tenure structure:

Land size in Old Alyamook project ranges from 1 to 4 ha with an average of about 2.5 ha. Farmers in general own the land they are working in. Farmers rely on their own families to provide labor required for farming but they do experience labor shortage in periods like harvesting or planting.

Irrigation system is currently at its transition phase, part is equipped with pressurized submersed pipe system and other part is still a surface open canal system. The old open surface canal E and F are completely replaced with pressurized submersed pipes following the same plan line of the old canals, while canal D, C, B, A, and Alajami-Zeizoun canal are still under the operation of replacement (construction is on). Water is pumped in one lift from each source through a pumping station located near the source (spring or lake). It then runs by gravity with the old system and under pressure with the new system. Electric power is the energy source that is used to operate the project pumping stations. Water in the old system has been conveyed by a system of canals in the following order: Main, Major, and Minor (Watercourses). All main and major canals were lined while watercourses were unlined. Watercourses are private canals that take water from the major canals and are operated and maintained entirely by farmers while the government is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the public canal system which comprises of main and major canals. The government responsibility is taking place by the Ministry of Irrigation through its local directorate (Alyarmook Basin Directorate). The outlets on the minor canals of the old system are equipped by sliding gates that supply controllable constant flows to the watercourses where farmers then share water amongst them according to a timed rotation “ Addan ”. After the completion of the conversion to a pressurized pipe system, water will be conveyed by submersed pressurized pipes with the same order: Main, Major, and Minor. The only difference is that main and major canals are completely pressurized while minor canals are still open canals under the farmers' responsibility. Outlets on the major canals of the pipe system are equipped with valves that supply constant flow to watercourses.

Structures on irrigation network are typical comprise of: water level regulators, discharge regulators, and culverts, roads, etc.

According to the hydrological conditions of the project area and since water baring formation is at a depth of more than 30 m, special measures to control water table position are considered not required, and due to the shortage of water in the area, i.e. no excess water to be removed, all led to the decision not to implement any drainage system.

The prevailing soil type of the project area is dark brown silty-clayey. They are well developed in depth (1 m) and the high amount of silt content gives these soils the property of being easily dispersed on the surface and forming a crust. Project soils are poorly to fairly well provided with phosphorous and have good reserves of potassium. Due to their deep profile, they are suitable for irrigated agriculture.

Crop water requirements are provided on a yearly basis by the Directorate of Irrigation and Water Use of the Ministry of Agriculture. These requirements are calculated using Blaney Criddle formula with climatic data from a nearest meteorological station and crop efficiencies taken from FAO guidelines (Irrigation and Drainage Paper 24). Table 2 gives a summary of these requirements for the different crops in the project area.

Table 2. Estimated crop water requirements (Source: Directorate of Irrigation and Water Use)

Table 2. Estimated crop water requirements - Continue

The planned cropping patterns in the project area are also prepared by the Directorate of Irrigation and Water Use of the Ministry of Agriculture based on available water from the project main sources and estimated crop water requirements taking into account the tree farms already exist. Table 3 summarizes these patterns.

Table 3. Planned cropping patterns (Lower Network + Alajami-Zeizoun Canal) (Source: Directorate of Irrigation and Water Use)

Table 3. Planned cropping patterns (Middle Network + Upper Network) - Continue

2.6 Water management:

Written / agreed water rights do not exist in Syria. Instead, there is a governmental commitment to provide farmers with water. Water, however, is allocated by the Ministry of Irrigation through the Directorate of Alyarmook Basin according to availability, land areas, and planned cropping patterns. Water availability is assessed and allocation is provided on a yearly basis. Table 4 gives an example of this allocation for the irrigation season of the current year (March – November 2002).

Table 4. Water allocation for the period March – November 2002 (Source: Ministry of Irrigation)

It is then the responsibility of Alyarmook Basin Directorate to supply consumers with water according to an established schedule taking into account the above quotas, the land areas, and the planned cropping patterns (in particular the tree farms which already exist). A detailed schedule for each network is prepared every year by Alyarmook Basin Directorate. Water flows continuously in the main and major canals and controlled by operating personnel supervised by the project manager. It is the responsibility of the project manager and his team of operation to maintain water until reaching the outlets on the major canals according to the quotas of the Ministry of Irrigation. Gates are calibrated at the beginning of the irrigation season to provide the allocated discharge. Once water leaves the outlet, it is then the responsibility of the farmers to schedule water amongst them based on a rotation and according to the land areas they own (informal water user association).

Wherever there is irrigation, there is also an organization to carry out the primary tasks of the irrigation system: water allocation, water distribution, maintenance, and management. This organization must have a means of mobilizing both human and financial resources. Decision making and main irrigation tasks performing are carried out at several levels within the Directorate of Alyarmook Basin. The organizational structure as regards the studied project is given in Figure 2.

Figure 2 . Chart of organizational structure

The direct responsibility of the project is of its manager and his team of 11 water distribution centers which are allocated at keypoints of irrigation networks (see Figure 1-B).

Irrigation begins in March and continues until November, i.e. the canal network is not in operation during three months: December, January, and February. During this period, repairing pump stations, canal, networks, pipe networks is carried out. During the irrigation season, the irrigation system is continuously observed, minor maintenance is done, and a list of major maintenance items for the off-season (when the system is shutdown and the annual maintenance for the whole system is conduced) is prepared.

3. PART B: MODERNIZATION PROCESS

3.1 Causes:

In view of the limited water resources in Syria, the rapid increase of population, the government policy to give a top priority to drinking water, and the continues decrease of the country water sources, the government has started an ambitious plan on rehabilitation and modernization of old canal systems in order to improve conveyance efficiency and minimize losses. It also encouraged farmers to implement modern irrigation techniques for a better use of water at field level.

Alyarmook project for the last 11 years are presented in Table 5 and their variation is shown in Figure 3.

Table 5. Average annual discharges of the main sources of Old Alyarmook project (Source: Alyarmook Basin Directorate)

Figure 2 . Average annual discharges of the main sources of old Alyamook project

From the analysis of these discharges and their variation, it seems that there is a noticeable decrease in their values especially in the last three years. Explanation was sought but no clear answer was provided by the irrigation authorities which urges the need for a further investigation. Adding to the noticeable decrease in the project water main sources, the government policy to give drinking water needs top priority, e.g. from the available water of Almzerib lake 600 l/sec is allocated to supply Daraa city and Swaida city with drinking water leaving irrigation from this source with only 160 l/sec, all has posed the need for an urgent action to alleviate water shortage and meet agriculture demand.

The government has implemented three measures for the alleviation of water shortage: further increase in water supply, improvement in conveyance efficiency, and improvement in field efficiencies.

To support the project with an additional supply, the government has started the exploitation of two projects to extract an average discharge of 400 l/sec through Alhrair pump station which gets its water from Alhrair Spring (a nearby spring), and an average discharge of 350 l/sec through Altabariaat pump station which gets its water from the sewerage water treatment plant of Daraa city and small Springs along Alzaidy valley (nearby valley). These two supply projects are still under construction.

Since 1997 and with a total budget of 823 million Syrian Pounds (16.5 million US$), the government has started a project to replace the open canals with pressurized submersed pipes. The first phase of the conversion project was completed (the replacement of the upper irrigation network) while the second phase is still under construction (the replacement of the rest of the project). The aim was to minimize conveyance losses and save water, and stop any illegal abstraction by farmers from open canals and enhance farmers' water rights.

The government has encouraged farmers to use advanced on-farm irrigation techniques like drip and sprinkler systems to improve on-farm irrigation efficiencies and conserve water. The ministry of agriculture has provided loans to meet the capital costs of modern systems (interest free for the first five years and 4.5% after). The coverage of the credit has been expanded to cover almost 100% of the total capital costs in response to the recent draughts and severe water shortage (average of 55,000 Syrian Pounds / ha according to the type of the system). The ministry of agriculture has also been providing farmers with a detailed feasibility study of their farms that have to be converted to modern system and estimated capital costs for the establishment according to land size, and the type of crops. In general, the ministry has estimated an average capital costs as shown in Table 6

Sprinkler system has not been attractive and widespread amongst farmers in the area since Wheat, the main winter crop, relies on rainfall for most of its cropping season and the area is well known by its good precipitation. However, it is still important to have irrigation at the beginning and end of the cropping season and during draughts. Sprinkler systems, if implemented, are simple type and consist of plastic pipes which are moved by hands and can be carried out easily, and rotary sprinklers spaced along laterals.

Table 6. Estimated capital costs of converting to modern irrigation techniques (Source: Ministry of Agriculture)

Drip system is widespread amongst farmers due to its suitability for their favorite crops (trees and vegetables). In recent years, farmers tend not to comply with the planned cropping pattern and convert their grain-cropped lands into olive and vine farms. This conversion came from the fact that these two crops have been of high value in the Syrian agriculture market and that irrigation authorities are forced to give these established farms a priority when planning patterns and allocating water since they have become a fact.

Under the modernization process, three organizations have become involved: the ministry of irrigation, the ministry of agriculture, and the farmers union.

The ministry of irrigation has the big task of financing, supervising, and managing the whole process of modernization. The responsibility is of the Directorate of Alyarmook Basin. On the other hand, the ministry of agriculture is responsible for preparing new agriculture plans to accommodate the changes and advice the ministry of irrigation on that. It also continue to play its original role as an agricultural service provider through its extension services and also through its new section that provides farmers with the feasibility studies of the conversion to modern techniques as well as the estimates of the capital costs. The ministry of agriculture is also the loans provider to farmers through its own banks to implement the new techniques. The farmers union is the reference that farmers seek to solve any problem they encounter and a messenger to carry the farmers' voice to the government.

Training programmes for both staff and farmers on modernization have not been carried out properly. Apart from some introductory workshops for farmers organized by the ministry of agriculture in collaboration with the Arab Centre for the Studies of Arid Zones on Dry Lands (ACSAD), a regional research center that comes under the framework of the League of Arab States, no training has been provided whatsoever.

Modernization in Syria has come as a national policy with the objective to increase the efficiency of water use. The decision didn't take into consideration the need for such a step for single cases but it meant to be applied at a national level where possible and affordable. Identification and evaluation of alternatives to achieve the set objective have not been carried out. Thus, system performance assessment prior to modernization for single cases was not done.

4. PART C: MODERNIZATION IMPACTS

4.1 Governance:

Governance, which basically determines the allocation of power and authorities and explains who is responsible for what function of irrigated agriculture and within what bounds, simply has not been affected by the changes. Still the ministry of irrigation through its local directorate (the Directorate of Alyarmook Basin) is carrying out all the responsibilities of operation and maintenance of the project.

Modernization process has not introduced any progress in water rights. Water rights still do not exist. However, converting surface open canals to submersed pipes will have a direct impact on water equity since it will prevent farmers from abstracting water illegally from the open canals.

Continues flow did exist before. The modernization did not introduce any changes on water allocation. Water is still allocated according to availability, land areas, and planned cropping patterns. Allocation task is still the responsibility of the same authority (the Directorate of Alyarmook Basin).

Water still flows continuously in the main and major canals and is controlled by operating personnel supervised by the project manager. The only difference is that it is completely pressurized in both main and major canals. It is still the responsibility of the project manager and his operation team to maintain water until reaching the outlets on the major canals according to the quotas of the Ministry of Irrigation. Farmers still schedule water amongst them based on a rotation and according to the land areas they own.

One of the most significant institutional aspects that could come online with the modernization process is changing the fee structure. In spite of the fact that water fees have been increased several times since 1990, irrigation water is still charged per unit of area owned by the farmer (regardless whether it is cropped or not) multiplied by the planned cropped area set by the Directorate of Irrigation and Water Use. This charge could be considered as per unit of irrigable area if the farmers follow the planned cropped area which, in reality, is not the case since they always crop more. The continuous increase in water fees (see Table 7) has been set to be applied on a national basis and didn't take into account the particular case of modernization since it is applied on both traditional and modern systems. Water charge is meant to cover the project capital cost (long term recovery without the consideration of the discounted cost).

The remarkable changes that were introduced by the modernization process in Old Alyarmook project was technical, i.e. improving system performance at both conveyance and field levels. It has been stated by the local authorities that the conveyance losses could reach a value of 30% of the supply due to the fact that the irrigation network is too old and rehabilitation has never been done properly as well as the proper maintenance. Field observations confirmed the fact of the poor condition of the open canals which have not yet been converted to pressurized pipes. A further investigation was required to confirm the official figures of conveyance losses (an average value of 30%). With the help of the directorate special team on measurements, measuring discharges on a major canal at two locations with a distance of 750 m was done. A conveyance loss of 16% was found which indicate some accuracy of the official authorities.

Table 7. Water fees changes (Source: Ministry of Agriculture)

Officials have confirmed that 3200 ha of the total project area has been converted to drip irrigation with the main crops of trees (vine, olive) and vegetables. Water saving and yield increase with the conversion have also been stated. Table 8 gives estimates of this increase for three sample crops.

Table 8. Estimated yield increase (Source: Ministry of Agriculture)

Interviewing farmers, whose lands are at different locations within the project area and who practice different cropping patterns, has confirmed the fact that yield has been increased with the modern irrigation techniques, e.g. increase in the yield of tomato and vine with drip irrigation. It has been also confirmed that water has been saved through minimizing field losses. Farm size expansion was a sign of water saving at field level. From the farmers' as well as officials' point of view, the yield increase is due to better fertilizing and scheduling with the new techniques (drip irrigation). However, farmers' concern about yield increase is always affected by marketing policy.

Managerial upgrading and / institutional reforms were not taken into account yet. Organizational changes have not occurred. Still the same team is directing, operating, and maintaining the project with no appreciation of the need to adapt to the new system requirement. No adequate training has been imposed for operating and maintenance staff. Instead, individual experience has been transferred from private sector and from neighboring country (Jordan) though there was a noticeable thirst for knowledge amongst staff. There are no incentives due to low salary payments and the negative attitude reflected by “since performance is never appreciated, who cares?”

Farmers' perception of irrigation practice using modern technique is limited due to poor education and training. This perception is only based on experience borrowed from a neighboring country, Jordan. Farmers try several methods to overcome the problem of water shortages and any other problem related to the use of modern techniques: they manipulate their water quotas from a fallow land they own which may be at another location to irrigate their farms. Store their quotas in small field reservoirs to make water available when needed and avoid any crop stress. Install small pumping units on these reservoirs to provide pressure to their drip systems. They even refrain from using emitters to discharge water to the plants and only use holes on the laterals to avoid any kind of blockage.

The government has hardly introduced training programmes for farmers. Only a few introductory workshops were organized by the ministry of agriculture in collaboration with the Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands (ACSAD). The noticeable service provided to farmers was the help by the ministry of agriculture to establish the feasibility study for the new technique and estimate its capital cost for each individual farmer. However, this estimation is essential to get a loan from the government to implement the new technique which is another service provided by the government. Farmers are not very much concerned about the capital cost of the drip system since they are getting loans from the government to cover the entire cost of the system. From their experience with the high profits of a crop like vine they can easily pay back their loans. Even though, farmers tend to delay paying their loans until the last year that they do not pay interest (the fourth year).

Irrigated agriculture consumes almost 85% of water resources use in Syria. This fact emphasizes the importance and need for better use in agricultural sector, more specifically, for improved water use efficiency. Modernization conveyance system and the use of modern irrigation techniques have proved a valuable means for substantial water savings. However, it seems that the country is still engaged mostly in project exploitation activities even with its modernization plan. The survey has found a careful technical upgrade while managerial and institutional upgrades have not been given attention. Interviewing staff showed that they had no training related to their jobs and to come along with the process of modernization whatsoever. It is even noticed that computer technology was not yet implemented properly to increase the work efficiency.

The preliminary investigations indicated that the use of modern techniques has resulted in a significant improvement in agricultural output but with poor farmers' perception on the modernization process due to the poor knowledge of farmers and the lack of adequate communication between farmers and irrigation authorities. This communication has a central role in improving the performance of irrigation system. It is also an important means to transfer knowledge to farmers on the practice of modern techniques. It seems that the project lacks such a means. It was found that there were five research units working on the application of the new techniques and on the determination of crop water requirements. The preliminary investigations indicated the lack of knowledge transfer from these units to farmers though they were established for this specific reason. Visits were made to these units which revealed not a bad situation but they only rely on one person initiatives (manager). Training the staff of these units and the establishment of proper communication mechanism between them and the farmers is required if they are to accomplish what is aimed from them.

The predominant idea of project exploitation has prevented decision makers from looking at other options to increase the efficiency of water use. Water demand management has never been thought about as an alternative option, and it was noticed that crop water requirements has been estimated using old climatic data which do not represent the current situation whatsoever. What was astonishing is that irrigation authorities, when planning water allocation, took these estimated figures and did not use the figures of their own research units, though they were more accurate and representative. It was even found that one of the research units has a climatic station and equipped with lysimeters, and direct field measurement of crop water requirements has been carried out since 1990 for the most common crops in the area. But, the results did not even leave the unit itself and nobody has made any use of them. However, the condition of this unit is deteriorating since the responsibility has been changed and its partial funding from ACSAD has been discontinued.

Finally it can be concluded that to achieve the set goal of modernization, careful attention should be given to capacity building, research enhancement, and knowledge transfer .

6. REFERENCES

Directorate of Alyarmook Basin, (1998) “Working Paper on the Current Situation of the Governmental Irrigation Network of Old Alyarmook Project”, Daraa, Syria, (Arabic).

Ministry of Irrigation, (1996) “Report on the Preliminary Assessment of Old Alyarmook Project Irrigation Network Modernization”, Damascus, Syria (Arabic).

Somi G., Zein A., Dawood M., and Sayyed-Hassan A., (2002), “Progress Report on the Transformation to Modern Irrigation Methods until the end of 2001”, Internal report, Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reforms, Syria, (Arabic).

Somi, G., Zein, M.A., Sayyed-Hassan A., and Kanafani, M., 2002 “Irrigation Water Needs for Alyarmook Basin”, the Directorate of Irrigation and Water Use, Irrigation of Agriculture, Damascus, Syria (Arabic).

Somi, G., and Zein, A., (2002), “The Syrian National Plan for the Transformation to Modern Irrigation Methods”, Paper presented at the International Water Day, March, 2002, (Arabic).

World Bank (2001), “Syrian Arab Republic Irrigation Sector Report”, Rural Development, Water and Environment Group, Middle East and North Africa Region, Report No. 22602-SYR.

World Bank/UNDP, “State of the Environment in Syria”, April 1998.

Figure 3-A. Conveyance system before modernization (open surface canal system)

Figure 3-B. Conveyance system after modernization (pressurized pipe system)

Figure 3-C. Construction work

Figure 3-D. Sign of bad maintenance of open surface canal system

Figure 3-E. Drip irrigation system in a vine farm

Figure 3-F. Field reservoir view

Figure 3-G. Pumping unit installed on a field reservoir