Furrow-enhanced runoff harvesting for olives
Runoff collection has been used to plant olive orchards in north-west Syria in areas, which are considered too dry for olives. In one trial, trees were planted 8 m apart, within and between rows. Around individual trees ‘fish-bone’ shaped furrows were dug to harvest runoff water. The furrows were constructed manually with a hoe and reinforced with stones. They divert rainwater runoff to the micro catchments, where it concentrates in basins around the trees. Each tree is served by a catchment area of 60 m2. The furrows are re-made every year.
Author: WOCAT (World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies) network
Organization: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FAO TECA
Year: 2020
Country/ies: Syrian Arab Republic
Geographical coverage: Near East and North Africa
Type: Practices
Full text available at: https://www.fao.org/teca/en/technologies/7515
Content language: English