Start-up of Project on Mobilizing the Potential of Treated Wastewater and Drainage Water for Agricultural Development in North Africa

Tunis – 5 September, 2019 - Mr. Boubaker Karray, Chef de Cabinet of the Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries, and Mr. Philippe Ankers, FAO Representative in Tunisia and FAO Coordinator for North Africa, attended the Opening Ceremony of the national start-up workshop for the project “Mobilizing the Potential of Treated Wastewater and Drainage Water for Agricultural Development in North Africa”.

This project is part of the Regional Initiative on Water Scarcity launched by FAO in 2013 to support the countries of the NENA region (Near East and North Africa) to address two of their most urgent challenges: food security and water security for sustainable economic and social development in a context of water scarcity.

This workshop is one of the activities of the project, which aims at producing a diagnosis of the production, storage and use of unconventional water sources in agriculture through national assessment reports of the Maghreb countries, to be followed by a sub-regional action plan highlighting the potential for collaboration and fostering investment.

In his address, Mr. Karray emphasized the importance of raising farmers' awareness. "We aspire to raise the awareness of the agricultural water consumer, the essential agent controlling agricultural water, including in the choice of water source used for cultivation."

Mr. Philippe Ankers pointed out that this national workshop affirms the importance given to water as a strategic natural resource for achieving sustainable agriculture, and the need to respect this resource in all its forms to face the water scarcity that continues to worsen in the region due to several factors.

"Concretely, this project aims to contribute to national efforts to increase the ratio of reuse of treated wastewater in agriculture, but also drainage water, especially in the more arid areas of the country," he added.

The workshop began with an overview of the situation of the reuse of treated wastewater and drainage in Tunisia presented by Mrs. Najet Gharbi of the General Directorate of Rural Engineering and Water Use (DGGREE). Mr. Abdourahman Maki of the FAO Sub-regional Office presented a global overview on the FAO Regional Initiative on Water Scarcity (RIWS).

Mr. Faycel Chenini of FAO explained in detail the elements of the project, initiating the discussion among about forty participants from various institutions representing the main actors involved in the use of treated wastewater and drainage water in agriculture.

The discussion aimed to implement the project's action plan and generate actionable results that support fundraising and the development of treated wastewater and drainage water reuse programs in Tunisia.