On 31st of January and 1st of February 2022, two projects (Evaluation of irrigation, infrastructure crop mapping and estimation of agricultural water use (OSRO/LIB/100/AFB) and Monitoring, evaluation and rationalization of water use for Agriculture Sector (OSRO/LIB/002/ITA)) were launched by FAO, the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), the African Development Bank and in cooperation with Ministry of Water Resources in Libya.

The projects aim at supporting Libya to sustainably use water resources and improve crop and water productivity by providing an assessment of irrigation infrastructure at national level, developing a national database on water-management infrastructures, assessing and monitoring water and crop productivity and providing technical assistance and recommendations for sustainable agricultural development.

Through the results of this project, an assessment of the water use for the agricultural sector, through the latest technological advance in the use of remote sensing (e.g. based on WaPor methodology), will be undertaken. It will support monitoring and evaluation of water use, and to enhance agricultural water management performance, particularly water consumption and productivity. As a result, a strategic plan for water resources management that reviews the water, food and energy needs will be formulated.

During the inception workshop, over forty national experts participated from various organisations, including the established national multidisciplinary team and local multidisciplinary team from fifteen Ministries, national institutions and civil society with FAO project team and donors’ representatives. 

Through this two-year initiative, AICS, FAO and the Libyan authorities are strengthening their partnership in order to build national capacities for a performant use of agriculture water in the country in general and in the Fezzan region in particular, considering that Libya is characterized by an absolute water scarcity with its annual per capita Internal Renewable Water Resources (IRWR) around 106 m3/capita/yr.