1. Case studies on land and water management for improving agricultural
productivity in Near East and North Africa
Karuppan Sakadevan1
and Long Nguyen1
Soil and Water management & Crop Nutrition Section, Joint FAO/IAEA Division for Food
and Agriculture, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria
Introduction
Three case studies involving Iran, Qatar and Tunisia which are part of Near East and North Africa
Region are presented. These IAEA funded studies related to land and water management for
improving agricultural productivity and water quality were carried out in all three countries. Details
of the project, outputs and impacts on land and water resources are provide below:
1. Iran: Optimizing the capture and storage of water using farm wetlands for improving rice
productivity in the southern Caspian lowlands
Water scarcity and uneven distribution of rainfall are important factors limiting agricultural
development in Iran. In this respect, constructed or man-made wetlands can be suitable options to
capture, store and use water to irrigate crops when required. In the southern Caspian lowlands of
Iran, one of the most important types of wetland is the "Ab-bandans", a number of small, man-made
wetlands that are used for temporary water storage. In this respect, an assessment of water quality,
quantity and nutrient balance in relation to upland activities and land use practices is important to
develop management strategies for improving the performance of these Ab-bandans for water
capture, storage and its use for irrigation. In this case study 30 Ab-bandans with a total catchment
area of 14,583 ha were selected (Fig. 1). Water, nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) balances in these
Ab-bandans were quantified by measuring water, N and P inputs and outputs to these Ab-bandans.
In addition, stable isotopic signatures of hydrogen and oxygen were used to identify the sources of
water in these wetland system which helps.
The results of the study showed that land
use, fertilizer application and the location of
these Ab-bandans in the catchment
influenced the amount of water, N and P in
the Ab-bandans. On average 7.6 million
cubic meters of water was collected by Ab-
bandans from the catchment mainly
through runoff. The Ab-bandans also
collected a total of 86 tonnes N and 17
tonnes of phosphorus (P) and are available
for rice crops. Flood irrigation using this
water at a rate of 10 000 m3 ha-1 over the
growing season (April to September) was
able to produce rice in an area of 730 ha
with a yield of 3.5 t ha-1. However, changing the irrigation method from flood to an eight-day
Fig. 1. Location of Ab-bandans in Iran

2. irrigation interval was able to cultivate 1 500 ha with a similar yield and a significantly increased
water use efficiency and reduced energy use (Fig. 2).
Fig.2. Influence of irrigation methods on (a) amount of water used and (b) total rice production of
Ab-Bandans
The stable isotopic signatures of water showed that these Ab-bandans do not receive sufficient
inputs of water (runoff or groundwater discharge) to minimize the effects of summer evaporation
and irrigation requirements. Run-off from precipitation (rainfall and snow melt) during autumn and
winter (September to March) was the main contributor to the Ab-bandan water. These results will
be useful for improving water management in these Ab-bandans.
2. Qatar: Changing Sabkha’s into potential farmlands for enhancing livestock production and
land and water resources protection
Sabkhas are among the most degraded lands in Qatar with soil salinity (electrical conductivity,
EC=110 dS/m) greater than the salinity of sea water. These Sabkhas also have saline groundwater
(EC>95 dS/m) within the top one meter of the surface. The soils are characterised by poor organic
matter and lack of essential macro and micro nutrients with the soil profiles mostly consist of
calcium carbonate and gypsum. Farming in Sabkhas is extremely difficult and farmers ignore these
lands for cultivation. With relatively high calcium carbonate (12 to 17%) and gypsum (3 to 9%) these
soils are loose, sandy gravels and can be susceptible to both wind and water erosion. An estimated
300 agricultural farms have already been abandoned due to high salt concentration of the soil.
Currently the cultivated land in Qatar accounts for about 8000 ha and it is virtually impossible to do
agriculture without irrigation. With an extremely unpredictable, highly erratic, and low intensity
rainfall both in time and space, surface water is not considered reliable for supplementing irrigation
and managing agriculture. Therefore all irrigation water is extracted from groundwater with a crop
water use efficiency of less than 45%. The continuous use of saline groundwater also led to
increased salinization of the soil and groundwater and agricultural lands are continuously being
abandoned. In this project, an integrated approach to water management was successfully
introduced in which salt affected soils, saline water, treated sewage water and drip irrigation
technology were used to grow salt tolerant vegetables and fodder crops for animals.
Results showed that the introduction of integrated water management in these salt affected soils
saved water by 20-30% and reduced the overall need of ground water for irrigation and reduced salt
input by 50-60%. In addition, up to 35 tonnes/ha biomass can be produced through this integrated
approach. The nutrient contained in the treated sewage water (nitrogen and phosphorus) will
enhance soil fertility of these Sabkhas. The soil quality will also be significantly improved through the

3. addition of organic matter present in the treated sewage water which binds the soil particles
together and provide a healthy environment for vegetation establishment.
The Qatar Ministry of Environment is planning to use about 100 million m3 of saline groundwater
mixed with 60 million m3 of treated sewage water to irrigate about 80,000 ha of coastal and inland
Sabkhas that are currently rated as unsuitable for cultivation. This will potentially increase the arable
land in Qatar from 8,000 to 91,000 ha (Fig. 3).
Fig. 3. A deserted land (a) has been converted into a fertile cropland (b)
3. Tunisia: Enhancing water harvest through land and water conservation measures to improve
agricultural productivity and reduce nutrient pollution
This case study aimed at enhancing soil, water and nutrient conservation of the hill farm pond
in the Kamech Catchment located at the northwest mountains of the peninsula of Cap Bon,
Eastern Tunisia. Irregular water availability is one of the major constraints for agricultural
production and socioeconomic development in Tunisia. Small hill ponds are considered as an
important part of water resources conservation strategies and had been widely build for
various purposes including underlying groundwater recharge and providing surface water for
local farming needs. Kamech catchment (265 ha) with a hilly landscape is a representative of
this region. It represents a headwater catchment of one of the main surface water resources of
the Cap Bon area, the Lebna wadi (218 km²) that runs in to a dam of 24.7 million cubic
meters (Fig.4). Optimizing water conservation in the Kamech farm pond helps improve water
quality and quantity of Lebna Wadi that is used for agricultural irrigation. Stable isotopic
signatures of hydrogen and oxygen were used to identify sources of water to the farm pond.
Similarly cations and anions in soil and water in and around the farm pond were used to
characterise nutrient retention and source of nutrients to the farm pond.
Fig. 4. Kamech Lake and vegetable farming in the Kamech catchment
a b

4. Results of isotopic signatures of hydrogen and oxygen and water balances for the farm pond
showed that the farm pond is a major source of water for groundwater recharge. For an initial
pond volume of 46,780 m3
approximately 85,000 m3
of pond water was recharged to the
groundwater between September 2009 and August 2010. However, during the dry period the
groundwater discharges approximately 6,600 m3
suggesting that the farm pond is an
important water conservation area that provides sufficient irrigation water for crops during
the growing period and enhance the quantity and quality of downstream water. The isotopic
signatures of different sources of water in the catchment (Table 1) showed that stream flow
have the same range as those of rainfall indicating that direct run-off from rainfall is the
major contributor to stream flow. Isotopic signatures along with water balance calculations
indicate that run-off from the catchment is the major source (>90%) of water to the farm
pond.
Table 1. Isotopic signatures of various source waters in the Kamech catchment
Isotope Rainfall Stream
flow
Farm Pond Run-off
δ18
O -14 to 0.1 -7 to +3 -4 to +5 -6 to -3
δ2
H -89 to +5 -37 to +3 -199 to +219
Water quality monitoring of the piezometers, runoff water, pond water showed that nitrate
concentrations remained rather low, particularly in the pond (around 1 mg N/L) which
reduces the risk of downstream nitrate pollution.
The results from this case study will be useful to develop land and water resources
management practices that lead to the capture of entire runoff water generated from the
catchment and maximize its use for agricultural activities in the catchment.