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Rural Support in Syria

The objective of the Rural Support Programme is to help people manage and use resources in ways that help them raise their incomes and improve their overall quality of life. The objective of the Rural Support Programme is to help people manage and use resources in ways that help them raise their incomes and improve their overall quality of life. Given the high dependence on agriculture (60-70 percent of families in Salamieh, for example, depend on agriculture as their main source of income), the Rural Support Programme provides technical assistance to farmers and rural residents to improve economic returns and diversify sources of income. Projects encompass drip and sprinkler irrigation systems and other methods of water management, crop and livestock diversification, and other ways of raising the productivity of land in water-scarce environments.

Water Efficiency
Syria faces a growing problem of water scarcity, a consequence of limited water resources shared by a burgeoning population, overuse, and inefficient water management. Within the next few years, Syria will become a “water scarce” country, dropping under the allotment of 1,000 cubic metres per person, per year. One of the regions that is most acutely afflicted by a water shortage is the Salamieh District in the central Governorate of Hama, where the water table has been dropping in some areas at a rate of one metre per year over the past quarter century.

As much of Syria has a very dry climate, water scarcity is an important issue. A modest infrastructure for water redistribution in Syria and the increased demand for water has compounded the problem. The Water Management Project seeks to improve water management at the field level by increasing water efficiency to increase incomes.

With increasing pressures on the water supply, the agricultural sector has suffered in Salamieh, which is particularly serious as the vast majority of residents rely on farming as a significant source of income. Over the past 25 years, the area of irrigated land has more than halved, and today, 60 percent of wells have dried up. While most agricultural crops are rainfed wheat, barley, and lentils, grown in the cool, wet, winter months (November to April), many farmers, particularly towards the western part of the Salamieh

District where rainfall is higher, look to irrigated vegetables to provide supplementary income during the hot dry summers. In areas towards the East, livestock production is more important, and irrigation is in fact banned in some areas.

The summer crops grown in the district vary significantly - including, for example, cucumbers, onions and watermelons - and a number of trees such as pistachio, olive and almond also require summer irrigation. Farmers traditionally use gravity or surface irrigation with water drawn from wells. Water is pumped into holding tanks above ground and then directed by earthen channels to fields and orchards. These individual wells are not always registered with the government, and rarely monitored. Despite restrictions on drilling new wells, it is difficult to enforce this policy. One of the significant challenges regarding water resource management in the villages of Salamieh is that farmers consider their wells as private resources, despite the fact that they share a water table with their neighbours.

In fact, many farmers over-extract water resources based on the fear that if they do not use their water, it will be used by a neighbour. With water resources being “free” and with low costs for extraction, the situation is further exacerbated. There is also little or no communal management or documentation of water resources, despite a general consensus among residents regarding the continued decline of the water table.

Modernised Irrigation
Eighty-five percent of farmers in Syria use traditional irrigation for their summer crops, leading to high costs, low production, and increased stress on already limited water resources. Throughout the Middle East, generally, farmers are adopting new modernised irrigation techniques such as drip and sprinkler irrigation, which are far more efficient than gravity-based methods. With a drip system, upwards of 90 percent of the water is used by the plant, while with surface irrigation this rate drops below 60 percent.

In Salamieh, the Rural Support Programme (an initiative of the Aga Khan Foundation) designs drip irrigation systems for farmers - over 150 since 2003.

The improved irrigation system draws water from the well and sends it directly to the plants, distributing it so that there is reduced waste. In addition, a number of other improvements are made using, for example, a soluble fertiliser injection system that, while requiring fertiliser that is more costly than granular fertiliser, results in greater uptake - more than a twofold increase - by the plant. Other techniques include covering the seed rows with plastic strips that not only reduces evaporation but also bolsters weed control, preventing the loss of valuable water and fertiliser to the weeds.

For farmers, these new systems result not only in greater production, and thus increased incomes, but also have significant added benefits such as reduced labour, reduced costs for fuel (to pump water), and the elimination of the need to build costly holding tanks. When installing drip irrigation systems for summer crops such as watermelon, eggplant, cucumber, tomatoes and squash, among others, farmers can often recoup the cost of the improved irrigation network in one harvest cycle.

Despite these apparent benefits, many farmers still have not adopted drip irrigation systems, often due to the cost or lack of technical expertise, or a lack of trust in the new technology. Moreover, often only a few able farmers adopt the technology in a single village, thereby negating the collective benefit of stabilsing the water table.

Innovative Crops
A promising crop that can both raise income and reduce water consumption is mushrooms. One kilogramme of mushrooms is worth twice as much as one kilogramme of cotton and uses 99 percent less water. Salamieh currently produces only 15 percent of the mushrooms that it consumes. The introduction of mushrooms by the Rural Support Programme as an alternative crop saves water and helps meet local demand.

New Livestock
An example of applying new initiatives to increase productivity is the raising of Chami goats. The price of two Chami goats equals the price of one cow. Because they give birth twice as frequently with at least one set of twins at every birth, their retail value is five times that of normal goats. Chami goats eat less, take less time to look after and give more milk. Working in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, the Programme is providing these goats to the poorest villagers to increase their income.

The Fraytan Experience
The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) has initiated a number of activities to address this situation, with the objective of stabilising the water table without negatively impacting farmer incomes. Given the common property nature of underground water resources, collective action plays a central role in ensuring sustainable extraction practices. In 2005, a pilot project supported by the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) and the Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance (AKAM) was launched. It provided a group loan for modernised irrigation for summer crops, which spurred the farmers of Fraytan, a small village 20 kilometres from Salamieh town, to action. The collective adoption of new technologies resulted in increased yields of nearly 60 percent; and additionally, in less underground water extracted and an increase in water efficiency. The model is designed to be replicated by other communities throughout the region.

Collective Action and the Fraytan Experience
Forming groups to manage water resources collectively is critical to sustainable management of this resource, but without incentives it is unlikely to occur.

Fraytan, a village with 40 households and nearly 300 residents located in the heart of the District, has an average yearly rainfall of 250 mm. The Aga Khan Development Network offered a group loan to enable all willing farmers - with irrigated land - in the village of Fraytan to convert to a drip irrigation system for their summer vegetable plots. While initially there was scepticism, eventually 17 farmers with a total of five hectares of summer crops, came together to participate. They were persuaded both by the technical assistance offered by the Rural Support Programme (RSP), and a discount of 20 percent for the irrigation equipment negotiated with the supplier due to the size of the purchase. The only farmers who did not participate were those who already had modernised irrigation systems, or those without wells. The Rural Support Programme designed the drip irrigation systems, and a total loan of 200,000 Syrian Pounds (SYP), or roughly US$4,000, financed the purchase of inputs and their installation. The sizes of the loan varied, from SYP5,000 (US$100) to SYP18,000 (US$360), depending on the size of the plots and equipment needed by each farmer; however, the group was collectively responsible for the repayment of the loan. The period of the loan was 12 months with a rate of 1.5 percent per month charged on the balance to cover administrative costs. Rather than dictating to the group, the RSP let the villagers of Fraytan take ownership of this new water-users association. They selected a leader to manage the loan, and an accountant to tabulate the finances and required payments. Through effective management and good yields, the group was successfully able to pay back the loan and administrative fee on time, an impressive achievement in its own right. Yet, the real success of the project was the dual combination of increased incomes and improved (and reduced) use of water resources. Moreover, the drip irrigation systems last for at least five years and perhaps as many as ten, resulting in more profits for farmers long after the systems have been installed and paid for.

The leader of the group commented: “To us water is as important as income, and this year with the drip irrigation systems, there are still several metres of water remaining in our wells.” One farmer noted that without the group he would not have taken the risk alone to modernise his irrigation network. Other participants also commented on how the drip irrigation systems helped to “balance the water table”. It is estimated that the farmers used 30 percent less water this year to grow their summer vegetable crops. Over the past three years, the project has been measuring the water table in Fraytan, and it is now showing a trend to stabilise, even rising in 2005 in September when compared to previous years. While it is too early to judge the full impact of the drip irrigation group on the water table, the collective adoption of more efficient technology appears to be making a difference.

The new drip irrigation systems did not simply help the farmers use less water, but also raised incomes. The group increased its overall yield by roughly 60 percent. Many farmers also intercropped, which would not be possible without drip irrigation. They grew high crops, such as peppers, simultaneously with low crops, such as watermelons or cucumbers.

Despite a sharp drop in the price of melons due to a variety of regional factors, the farmers were still able to make a healthy profit. Due to the improved irrigation systems, the farmers’ labour input declined by 50 percent and fuel costs were cut by a remarkable 64 percent. In fact, on average, the farmers would have lost money had they used surface irrigation in 2005 due to the higher costs, and lower yields. These returns are not strictly profits, but returns to the farmers’ land, labour, and management.

One drawback was that a few farmers planted water-intensive crops, such as cotton; and a second was that some increased the area sown to summer crops, resulting in higher water use. AKF is working closely with farmers so they will see the harmful consequences of these practices. Also, to protect against price fluctuations, the group members are being encouraged to diversify their crop selection beyond watermelon and muskmelon.

Towards the Future
The model in Fraytan is a first step towards improving water management and increasing incomes in Salamieh. Due to the Fraytan experience, neighbouring villagers have seen the successful plots and asked the Fraytan farmers about the project. The Rural Support Programme is now working to expand the same structure to 15 groups in 12 villages in

2006. The next target is drip irrigation for olive orchards, which may result in even greater water saving per hectare and cover many more hectares. Micro-sprinkler systems to provide supplementary irrigation for winter wheat and barley are also being tested. AKF will monitor closely, which of these interventions result in the greatest returns and water savings for farmers.

With assistance from the Aga Khan Development Network, the villagers in Fraytan were able to make significant gains, improving the productivity of their land and management of their water resources, and perhaps providing a model for others in the region to follow.