Middle East Water and Livelihoods Initiative

Middle East Water and Livelihoods Initiative

Improving Rural Livelihoods through

Sustainable Water and Land-use Management

In Middle East Countries:

Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, SyriaYemen

Egypt

July 2009

Contact: Scott Christiansen
ICARDA, P.O. Box 5466, Aleppo, Syria
Tel: +963-21 2213433 x 2205
Fax: +963-21 2225105
Cell: +963-94 4428356
Email:

List of Acronyms

ADG-ICC: Assistant DG for International Cooperation and Communication (ICARDA)

AFESD: Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (Arab Fund)

AGNEP: Agricultural Non-point Source Model

ANU: An NajahUniversity (Palestine)

ARC: Agriculture Research Council (Egypt)

AREA: Agricultural Research and Extension Authority (Yemen)

ARIJ: Applied Research Institute - Jerusalem (Palestine)

AU: AleppoUniversity (Syria)

AUB: AmericanUniversity of Beirut (Lebanon)

AUC: AmericanUniversity of Cairo (Egypt)

ASU: AinShamsUniversity (Egypt)

BOT: Board of Trustees

BU: BenhaUniversity (Egypt)

CBO: Community-based Organization

CD: Compact Disc

CGIAR: Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research

CTO: Cognizant Technical Officer (USAID)

CU: CairoUniversity

CV: Curriculum Vitae

CWANA: Central and West Asia and North Africa

DC: District of Columbia (USA)

DDC: DesertDevelopmentCenter in the AUC (Egypt)

DDG-R: Deputy Director General for Research (ICARDA)

DG: Director General

DSS: Decision-Support System

DU: DamascusUniversity

DVD: Digital Video Disc

ELC: E-Learning Committee

EPIC: Erosion Productivity Impact Calculator

FA[1]: Farmer Association

FIG: Farmer Interest Groups

GCSAR: General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research (Syria)

GEF: Global Environment Facility

GIS: Geographic Information Systems

GW: Ground Water

HU: HebronUniversity (Palestine)

HV: High Value

IAER: Iraq Agriculture Extension Revitalization (USDA)

ICARDA: InternationalCenter for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas

ICT: Information and Communications Technology

IFAD: International Fund for Agricultural Development

IFPRI: International Food Policy Research Institute

INRM: Integrated Natural Resource Management

IWLMP: Integrated Water and Land Management Program (ICARDA)

IWM: Integrated Watershed Management

IWMI: International Water Management Institute

JUST: JordanUniversity of Science and Technology.

KS: Knowledge Sharing

LARI: Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute (Lebanon)

LAU: LebaneseAmericanUniversity

LOP: Life of Program

LRC: LandResearchCenter (Palestine)

M&E: Monitoring and Evaluation

MAAR: Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform (Syria)

MAI: Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation (Yemen)

MALR: Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation (Egypt)

MAS: Multiple Agent System

MIP: Modernization of Irrigation Project (Syria)

MWRI: Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (Egypt)

MC: Management Committee at ICARDA

ME: Middle East

MOA: Ministry of Agriculture

MOU: Memorandum of Understanding

MU: MosulUniversity

MWI: Ministry of Water and Irrigation (Jordan)

MS: Master of Science Degree

NARC: National Agricultural ResearchCenter (Palestine)

NARES: National Research and Extension Systems

NC: National Coordinator

NCARE: NationalCenter for Agricultural Research and Extension (Jordan)

NCARTT: NationalCenter for Agricultural Research and Technology Transfer (Jordan)

NGO: Non-Government Organization

NRCS: Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA)

NRM: Natural Resource Management

NTC: National Technical Committee

NWRA: National Water Resources Authority (Yemen)

NWRC: NationalWaterResearchCenter (Egypt)

OFID: OPEC Fund for International Development

OMEP: Office of Middle East Programs (USAID)

OPEC: Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OFID Fund)

OVI: Objectively Verifiable Indicators

PAPP: Program of Assistance to the Palestinian People (UNDP)

PhD: Doctorate of Philosophy Degree

PM: Project Manager

PMU: Project Management Unit

PRA: Participatory Rural Appraisal

PSC: Project Steering Committee

RS: Remote Sensing

SAG: Site Advisory Group

SEPR: Socio-Economic and Policy Research Program (ICARDA)

SBAR: State Board for Agricultural Research (in Iraq’s MOA)

SHG: Self-Help Groups

SREP: Strategic Research and Extension Plan

S&T: Science and Technology

SWAP: Soil-Water-Atmosphere-Plant Model

SWP: Soil and Water Productivity

SWOT: Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats Analysis

TAMU: TexasA&MUniversity

TS: Technical Support (Office of Technical Support in USAID Washington)

UA: University of Aden (Yemen)

UB: University of Baghdad (Iraq)

UCD: University of California at Davis

UCR: University of California at Riverside

UJ: University of Jordan

UF: University of Florida

US: University of Sana’a (Yemen)

UIUC: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

UNDP: United Nations Development Program

USAID: United States Agency for International Development

USDA: United States Department of Agriculture

USU: UtahStateUniversity

UZ: University of Zagazig (Egypt)

WANA: West Asia North Africa

WERSC: Water and Environment Research and StudyCenter(Jordan)

WLI: Water and Livelihoods Initiative

WUA: Water Users Association

ZU: ZagazigUniversity (Egypt)

Executive Summary

1.Background

1.1Approach: Building on Key Strengths

1.1.1Building on Existing Relationships

1.1.2Knowledge Sharing Strategy

1.1.3The Integrated Benchmark Approach and Scaling Up

1.2The Irrigated Benchmark Sites

1.2.1Irrigated Benchmark Site: 3 Sub-sites in the Nile Delta

1.2.1.1The New Lands: Land reclamation in Egypt’s Desert

1.2.1.2Farmers Associations

1.2.23 Sub-sites: Old, salt affected and new lands in the Nile Delta

1.2.2.1Old Land Site: El-Boheya

1.2.2.2Salt-affected Soils Site: South El-Hussainia

1.2.2.3New Lands Site: El-Bustan

1.2.3Egypt Technical Priorities and Cross Cutting Issues

1.3Training

1.3.1Delivery: International and Regional Partnerships and E-learning

1.3.1.1Needs and Resource Matching: The WLI Portal

1.3.1.2Post Graduate Degrees and Short Courses

1.3.1.3Professional Societies and Post-Doctoral Opportunities

1.3.2Regional Hub Universities and Regional Training

1.3.3US Universities: A Consortium Approach and Comparative Advantage

1.3.4Training in the WLI Egypt

2.Strategic Objective Linkages

3.Program Description

3.1Specific Objectives

3.2Geographic Focus

3.3Components

3.4Expected Results

3.5Additional Considerations

3.5.1Gender

3.5.2Environmental

3.5.3Coordination with other USAID and Non USAID projects

3.5.4Program Management and Implementation: WLI Egypt

3.5.4.1Legal and Fiduciary Responsibility

3.5.4.2The Project Steering Committee (PSC)

3.5.4.3ICARDA Management Committee (MC)

3.5.4.4National Coordinator (NC), Site Advisory Group (SAG), and National Tech Committee (NTC)

3.5.4.5Project Management Unit (PMU)

3.5.4.6Program Manager

3.5.4.8CGIAR Centers

3.5.4.9NARES

3.5.4.10US Universities: Enhancement and Collaboration

3.5.5Monitoring and Evaluation

3.5.6 Responsibilities and relationships

4. Reporting Requirements

5.Other Information

6.Program Team

7.Substantial Involvement

8.Key Personnel

9.Cost Sharing

Appendix 1: Map

Appendix 2: Recommendations and Activities for the Nile Delta Sub-sites

Appendix 3: Logframe WLI Egypt

Appendix 4: US Universities Comparative Research Advantage, Specializations and Middle East Experience

Executive Summary

The Middle East Water and Livelihood Initiative (WLI) has arisen as a direct consequence of the single largest concern facing farm households and rural communities of the Middle East; the continuing inefficient use of water and consequent on-going degradation of agro-ecosystems. In the seven countries of the initiative; Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Yemen, water scarcity is the key constraint to the improvement of rural livelihoods that are mainly dependent on land productivity. It is the fundamental issue threatening economic development, food security and stability in many parts of the region and must be addressed for improvements to take place. 97% of Egypt’s population occupies only 4% of the country’s land in the NileValley and Delta which are among the world’s most densely populated areas. Egypt doubled its population between 1975 and 2000[2], with a current population of around 80 million people. Creating viable livelihoods for such a rapidly growing population is one of Egypt’s major challenges and food security has become an issue of prime political importance. By the late 1990s, Egypt had to import half its food[3] . In April 2008 a shortage of subsidized bread led to rioting in Egypt and has led government officials to investigate growing wheat on two million acres straddling the border with Sudan.

Current institutional resources needed to address these problems in the seven countries of the WLI are presently ill equipped to do so. There is a gap between fragmented agricultural and natural resource management research and the adoption and adaptation of findings by farmers. Current water and land-use policies are often inappropriate to reverse these trends and human capacity too is in decline with a shortage of trained personnel and ageing human resources within national agricultural research and extension organizations and universities. Leaving these problems unresolved will result in a progressively worsening crisis within the rural ecosystems of the countries of the WLI with serious long-term social, political and economic implications. In the struggle for food security, Egypt’s hyper-arid climate and a virtual absence of precipitation present major challenges. Policy making needs to be informed by targeted research into highly water efficient agricultural systems that generate economically viable livelihoods for small-scale farmers and that foster the social sustainability of populations on desert land.

There is however, a widespread recognition of the mutual need to husband and manage the water and land resources through greater engagement of stakeholders while renewing human capital for future generations. The planning phase of the WLI which has encompassed the WLI Inception workshop in June 2008 and the series of workshops based on agro-ecosystems in 2009[4] has capitalised on this recognition. The WLI builds upon the impulse to mobilise resources and effect change through mutual cooperation across national boundaries and has begun the development of the framework, through which change will be achieved. The two key NARES for the WLI Egypt the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation and the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation between them have the remit for policy, research and extension in the Nile Delta sub-sites and a wealth of experience and capacity with which to tackle the scale of the challenges and fulfil the objectives of the WLI-Egypt.

The goal of the WLI is to improve the livelihoods of rural households and communities in areas where water scarcity, land degradation, water quality deterioration, food security and health problems are prevalent in the seven participating countries, focusing initially on specific benchmark sites. In Egypt, the Nile Delta sub-sites[5] offer an opportunity to engage with stakeholders for the formulation of a strategy to combat the policy, technical and livelihood concerns in conditions that represent the full spectrum of issues to be found in the irrigated agro-ecosystems in Egypt.The main issues of the old lands, are to improve on-farm water management by decreasing rising water tables and salinity build-up through the improvement and development of irrigation and drainage system networks. For the new lands issues surround the need to deal with: poor soil fertility; crust formation; low water-holding capacity; high water table and salinity build-up in some areas as well as helping farmers and farm women on all sites to add value to their products and increase their income on some of the smallest per capita agricultural areas[6] in the world . This pilot strategy developed at the sub-sites will then be available for scaling-up.

New income-generating crop and livestock strategies will be introduced in the context of sustainable and appropriate production technologies, market chain development and strong farmer-based organizations which focus on the priority issues and cross-cutting issues identified in the 2009 workshops. The priority technical areas and cross-cutting issues for Yemen were identified and prioritised at the WLI Irrigation workshop in Cairo and can be found on p7.

Human capital will be replenished through an extensive and innovative training program which will make the most of the latest in telecommunications technology and e-learning methods to target all levels, from farmers to PhDs, working in the integrated benchmark sites in the priority technical areas and cross cutting issues identified at the Cairo workshop. Policy decisions will be informed by institutional capacity building in tandem with decision-support technology. The challenge and crux of the initiative is to achieve these improvements while reversing current trends in the overuse of water and the stabilizing of the ecosystems in which the livelihoods are based through sustainable water and land use management.

The initiative will concentrate on self-reliance and enhancement of capacity of the implementing partners: harnessing the regional expertise and established relationships of ICARDA, IFPRI and IWMI, the educational and research strengths and linkages in the region of the US Universities and the in-country knowledge and human capital of multiple stakeholders at the benchmark site led by MALR and MWRI. Key stakeholders include, the University of Aden, farmers, extensionists, students, INGOs and CBOs (community-based organizations). These will influence the work plan, management and outcomes at the site through membership in the Abyan Delta Site Advisory Group (SAG) in conjunction with the National Technical Committee and National Coordinator.

The strength of the WLI and the WLI Egypt is its emphasis on the use of existing data, social capital, research, linkages, partnerships and proven methodologies and technologies in the Middle East[7], adapting and creating as new only where necessary. This will ensure that the goal of the WLI Egypt, improvements to livelihoods, will be created on a continuum from the beginning of the project.

The outputs of the WLI Egypt will be achieved through the pilot tested integrated water and land-use management strategies developed for scaling up at the Nile Delta Subsites.

Implementation of the project will be achieved through the process of training MS and PhD students alongside the current generation of researchers, extensionists and politicians – much like on-the-job training. The successful strategies will then be replicated at national levels following a scaling-up[8] strategy implemented through partnerships with policy-makers.

Outputs: The WLI Egypt initiative is expected to produce the following direct outputs:

1. Integrated water and land-use strategies for policy-making, tools for sustainable benchmark management and organizational mechanisms for community inclusion at the benchmark site.

2. Enhanced knowledge, skills and qualifications for key stakeholders in the benchmark sites.

3. Improved rural livelihoods of farmers in the Nile Delta sub-sites through the adoption of sustainable land and water management practices and livelihood strategies.

Outcomes: The initiative is expected to achieve the following outcomes:

1.Income increased in rural households/villages.

2.New livelihoods adapted/diversified production systems adopted.

3.Access to clean, high quality water improved by adoption of better water management systems.

4.Natural resources managed better at community and institutional levels.

5.Land use intensified, decreasing pressure to move agriculture to new or fragile lands.

6.Status of land degradation and water quality monitored.

7.Improved capacity of extension and research institutions.

1.Background

The WLI is a regional initiative involving seven countries; Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Yemen, thirteen NARES institutions across those countries, three international agricultural research centers, a group of regional hub universities, national universities and five US university systems. The 2008 WLI Inception Workshop brought together representatives of all participating institutionsand marked the culmination of a long period of planning initiated by ICARDA[9] and key personnel from US universities in response to the chronic problem of water scarcity in the region and the relative lack of progress that had been made in the region in improving the livelihoods of rural households. The initiative was designed to focus on increased income generating opportunities whilst reversing the degradation of watersheds through sustainable water and land management strategies.

At the 2008 Inception workshop, the regional importance of the WLI was stressed by Dr Mahmoud Solh, Director General of ICARDA as he detailed the chronic problem of water scarcity in the Middle East noting the per capita availability of water in the Middle East of 1200 cubic meters as opposed to a world average of 7000 cubic meters and the additional challenges wrought by climate change and rising food prices. This was echoed and driven home by Dr Adel El-Beltagy, GFAR Chair at the 2009 Irrigation Workshop who noted that ‘global warming was being superimposed on water scarcity with the consequent threat to peace and stability’. He also emphasised that the discussions at the 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul had shown that awareness of the problems was increasing as was a sense of urgency and the recognition of the need for international cooperation corresponding to what was being proposed by the WLI.

The 2008 workshop harnessed the growing awareness among key players inthe region, of the need for mutual cooperation to husband and manage water and land resources through greater engagement of stakeholders, whilst renewing human capital for future generations. The workshop proved the desire forcountry level and regional strategies to improve water productivity and income and verified the need for a new generation of policy-makers,scientists and extension personnel. It was agreed that there was an essential need for education and in-service training foryoung and mid-career scientists and extensionists. The workshop allowed a face-to-facegatheringwhich pulled togetherdetailed information about sites, partners, constraints and potential solutions in each of the seven Middle Eastern countries.Defining the characteristics of benchmark sites was useful as a way of organizing and grouping the water and livelihood problems by agro-ecology[10]. Decision-support modelling was deemed necessary, but only so far as it could be used with simplicity and clarity to decide the best path to more profit per drop of water.It was agreed to use bottom-up andmarket-driven participatory methodologies to be focused in the benchmark site communities.

The 2008 WLI Inception workshop led to the finalising of the WLI proposal and the initiation of the next phase of planning enabled by the $350,000 grant from USAID/ANE Washington [11]and a $150,000 grant from the Office of Middle East Programs in Cairo, Egypt to initiate the WLI in each of the participating countries in the 2008/2009 seasonincluding carrying out a series of three workshops based on the agro-ecosystems identified in the inception phase, which would further define priorities and defineand develop synergies between countries and regional and international players. The three workshops[12] were the Irrigated Workshop held in Cairo for Egypt, Iraq and Yemen, the Rainfed Workshop held in Aleppo for Lebanon and Syria; and the Badia (Rangeland) Workshop held in Amman for Jordan and Palestine. It should be noted however that the workshops were not restricted to the countries of the respective agro-ecology. Participants from all of the countries attended all of the workshops, enhancing cross boundary and cross agro-ecosystem cooperation.