Twenty participants from the Regional Services and Agricultural Centers of the Ministry of Agriculture and from the Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute (LARI) attended a training on irrigation water management and the use of Aquacrop model.

The training took place in Le Commodore hotel in Beirut from 7 November 2022 until 11 November 2022 and consisted of a theoretical part for 3 days in addition to two-day field visits to Akkar and Bekaa Governorates.

It was carried out by the Arab Center for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands (ACSAD) and implemented within the framework of the regional project on “Implementing the 2030 Agenda for water efficiency/water productivity and sustainability in the NENA countries”. The project is being implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in close collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and is funded by the Swedish International development Cooperation (Sida).

The training aimed at building the staff capacity to enhance irrigation management and irrigation productivity combining traditional and innovative technologies.

Participants in the training were able to estimate the crop water requirement and develop irrigation scheduling for different crops. They also identified e areas of improvement in water management and irrigation systems. The training was also an opportunity for the participants to establish networking among themselves and develop a plan to strengthen water management and irrigation.

During the  two-day field visits, participants met with farmers irrigating their crops with different irrigation techniques in order to assess and evaluate practically their irrigation practices, techniques used, irrigation crop water requirements supply.

Nora Ourabah Haddad, FAO Representative in Lebanon, “This project is in line with the MoA Strategy for 2020-2025 mainly in its fourth pillar related to “Improving climate change adaptation and sustainable management of agri-food systems and natural resources”, said Nora Ourabah Haddad, FAO Representative in Lebanon. She added: “it also fulfills FAO Regional priorities in the country on better management of the natural resources, increasing the irrigation water efficiency and productivity, support governance structure and work towards the adoption of modern irrigation and water harvesting techniques. Improved water efficiency measures and improved irrigation water management are essential using the same amount of water in the context of water scarcity in NENA Region and the impact of climate change.”