FAO/Syrian Arab Republic

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in close collaboration with the General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research (GCSAR), has organized an informative discussion session to present the implemented activities for the enhancement of irrigation situation in Al Hassakeh, challenges and lessons learned within the framework of the UN partnership project for enhancing food security and livelihoods in North-Eastern Syria project, with the generous support of Japan through the United Nations for Development Programme (UNDP).

This session has brought together representatives from FAO, GCSAR, the General Commission of Water Resources (GCWR), the General Organization of Remote Sensing (GORS), national experts and farmers from the local communities to exchange their experiences, insights, and valuable lessons learned. The feedback and recommendations will be incorporated into FAO's ongoing activities within the project to better address the identified needs and requirements.

The lessons learned session has mainly focused on the importance of stakeholder collaboration, exchange of experiences, insights, and valuable feedback to better address the identified challenges and needs. Adopting a holistic, integrated approach to support the sustainable management of water resources through assessments to understand the surrounding contexts, design integrated activities, address root causes for prevailing challenges and ensure long-term sustainability.

FAO’s team has also presented examples of strengthening the skills and knowledge of both technical staff and farmers, engaging the local community’s ownership of irrigation facilities through the establishment of water user groups.

“FAO is keen to introduce sustainable solutions to protect the natural resources by sharing its scientific evidence practices during the implementation of its irrigation interventions in Syria,” states Toni Ettel, FAO’s acting representative in the Syrian Arab Republic.

“During the challenging climatic conditions, it is important that the involved stakeholders together promote knowledge, awareness and action on climate change and water scarcity adaptation using technologies, assessments’ results and tools to achieve a resilient agricultural production system, enhance the environmental situation and save the available resources as well,” adds Toni.

During his presentation, FAO’s national water expert, Wael Seif, introduced the Organization’s comprehensive approach to natural resources which includes conducting natural resources assessments, damages, challenges and needs, as well as the design and implementation of integrated activities to support the sustainable management of water resources.

Wael also irrigation management programme, a helpful software to calculate the crop’s need for water, which will eventually lead to sufficient and optimized irrigation planning by the water user groups, and celebrated with the attendees the completion of a comprehensive land use thematic map of the country, which will help the experts to plan the intervention where needed, prioritize the rehabilitation activities according to the level of severity, and resource allocation among other benefits for technical studies and so forth.

FAO and the United Nation’s Partnership project

The UN partnership project for enhancing food security and livelihoods in North-Eastern Syria project is an integrated approach implemented in Al Hassakeh through interlinking UN agencies areas of expertise to enhance the  Wheat-to Bread value chain, where UNDP, WFP and FAO will provide direct support to vulnerable wheat farmers and bread producers to restore and to improve production while also strengthening their enabling environment at a community level.

FAO and WFP, within the framework of this project, have conducted technical assessments and rehabilitation works on irrigation systems and water harvesting facilities on Khabour River, which will allow access to irrigation to farming families, as well as established and trained seventeen water user associations to operate the irrigation facilities and plan the irrigation schedule according to the crops’ needs and size of land to ensure fair distribution of water.