FAO/Bayan Ksiebi

More than 10 000 farmers in southern Hama, Syrian Arab Republic, will expect a sustainable flow of water to their lands after FAO has completed rehabilitation works on eighty-eight kilometers of irrigation networks and seventy kilometers of drainage networks. These irrigation and drainage networks had been severely damaged by the crisis in Syria and the earthquake that hit Hama on 6 February 2023, causing dire irrigation water loss for farmers.

The irrigation networks, rehabilitated by FAO under the Building Local Resilience in Syria (BLRS) project with funding from UK Aid, will allow irrigation water to reach 7 500 hectares of land in sixteen villages to achieve better and sustainable production of the area’s seasonal and diverse crops, mainly wheat, legumes, vegetables, and crops for fodder production. Moreover, this intervention will protect groundwater from being over-exploited and will preserve it for the communities to use in their everyday household needs and to provide drinking water to their livestock.

“Water is life!” says Hisham Jammal, a local farmer from Kafr Bihem in rural Hama. “Before the rehabilitation of these canals, we either had to rely on groundwater wells or pray for enough rainfall.” Using groundwater wells means farmers must secure expensive and scarce fuel to operate the pumps. However, with the irrigation networks rehabilitated, farmers can have stable production “Now, we can produce all year round and provide healthy, nutritious food for our families and our communities,” Hisham adds.

The Organization has also repaired key field infrastructure, such as the metal gates, siphons, culverts, key depth gauge boards, small-scale bridges on field irrigation canals, as well as civil works of the field irrigation network and five irrigation management centers.

After their restoration, the field irrigation branches will be managed by members of the local community through water users’ associations (WUAs) to ensure fair and proper distribution of water based on the lands’ area and crops’ needs.

It is important for men and women to work together for a better production, and FAO prioritizes women’s presence in the WUAs as a way of empowering women farmers to sustain their production activities. Om Rashad, a female farmer and a WUA member, reflects these priorities: “Women are perfectly capable of farming duties. My role at the WUA is to represent and support all farming women in my village to ensure equitable delivery of water to their lands and equal access to production opportunities as well.”

Opening access to water for irrigation leads to a cascade of benefits for farming communities, as FAO’s water team lead Wael Seif explains: “In the face of an ever-changing climate, restoring irrigation water presents an opportunity to ensure the sustainability of livelihoods, enhance stability, and increase employment and income rates for rural families.” As such, FAO prioritizes restoration of irrigation water as a crucial component of building resilience in rural communities and improving the food and nutrition security and livelihoods of farmers.