Improving water availability and management for agriculture in the West Bank and Gaza Strip

FAO coordination office for the WBGS

Presented by: Azzam Saleh, Head of Programme

Currently, water scarcity in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is characterized by challenges both of an environmental and human-made nature. Declining levels of water access,

resulting from the combined effects of drought, dropping water tables and Israel-imposed restrictions on the construction and rehabilitation of wells and water resources; has greatly impacted Palestinian water use. As water is an integral component of the

agriculture sector, its availability at an acceptable and consistent level is a prerequisite for building sustainable and resilient livelihoods.

Under these conditions, though challenges are substantial, there are options for both improving and better managing available water resources to enhance agricultural

development. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Palestinian Water Authority, has

undertaken various interventions focused on improving the accessibility and management of water resources. This includes: increasing water harvesting and storage capacities at the community and household levels; ground water well rehabilitation; improving

irrigation efficiency; range land development with drought tolerant fodder crops and shrubs; aquaculture unit construction; provision of technical support to improve water

supply and management; and support to policy development and coordination across the agriculture sector.

Increasing the efficiency of water resources

Ground water well rehabilitation

Rehabilitation of underground wells increases water availability while decreasing its pumping costs. Due to restrictions and lack of maintenance, many wells in the WBGS do not operate at their full pumping capacities and yield amounts of water below their

authorized /licensed quota, reducing water availability and accessibility for farmers. Since 2006, FAO has been engaged in the rehabilitation of ground water wells in areas of

intensive agriculture (mainly the Jordan Valley, northern West Bank and the Gaza Strip). These efforts have made a major impact by boosting agricultural production and sustaining and/or creating new jobs for farmers and their families. Based on that

experience, FAO estimates that for every USD 1 invested in well rehabilitation an extra 11 kg of vegetables can be produced every year, for 40 years.

Community level water reservoirs

Community level reservoirs play a major role in the management and fair distribution of

water for irrigable lands. They also give opportunities to ration and optimize water used in irrigation, thus decreasing water costs per cubic metre up to 50 percent and in turn

increasing farmers’ profits up to 100 percent per unit area. For example, the insufficient and irregular agricultural water supply in the West Bank village of Tamoun forced farmers to purchase water transported by tractors to fill their individual water storage

pools. These high maintenance and operating costs – and reduced productivity due to

irregular water supply – made their crop growing activities less profitable. FAO constructed four large water reservoirs, connected to ground water wells. The new “by

gravity irrigation scheme” that was introduced to Tamoun’s community is used by 80 households in the village, who now pay only half of the price they used to for irrigation

water. In the meantime, a more reliable water supply increased their fields’ productivity, doubling their profit margin.

Water reservoirs in the West Bank village of Tamoun

Facilitating climate-smart agriculture

Rainwater harvesting activities

Conservative estimations show that for every USD 1 invested in household cistern

construction, at least USD 17.5 worth of water is saved1. Limited access to water networks and reoccurring periods of drought pose a threat to food security in several

areas of the West Bank. In these vulnerable areas, FAO has been enabling thousands of families to construct their own cisterns, allowing them to meet their water needs for both civil and agricultural purposes. With a reliable and cost-effective water source,

beneficiaries are able to establish backyard gardens, supplying them with fresh produce either for their own consumption or to be sold at market. Further, a buffer of water

storage capacity is created, allowing households to buy water in greater quantities and at significantly cheaper prices per cubic metre. At the community level, most herder communities’ – particularly in the eastern and southern parts of the West Bank – receive

very low amounts of rainfall which can also be difficult for tanker trucks to reach. In such vulnerable and drought-prone areas, water for household use is a vital but expensive

commodity. Not surprisingly, many of these communities already have cisterns that are shared by several families but have not been properly maintained due to access restrictions and declining standards of living. This lack of maintenance has caused many

cisterns to degrade, making access to water a recurrent and serious issue. Therefore, FAO invested in the rehabilitation of rainwater cisterns to improve access to water on a

community level. The large storage capacity and subsequent cheaper access to water strongly lowers households’ water costs, thus increasing their resilience in these drought-prone and highly vulnerable areas. Since the actual structures are already in place and

only need repairing, rehabilitation of community rainwater cisterns is one of FAO’s most cost effective activities targeting water resource development. For every USD 1 invested

in community cisterns, USD 77 is saved in water costs.

Drought tolerant crops

Herders endure decreasing access to grazing land due to drought and overgrazing, thus

increasing their dependency on purchased fodder. Alternatively, herders can plant their surrounding lands with fodder crops to meet part of their animals’ needs. FAO supports

herders through distributing seeds of drought tolerant fodder crop varieties to ensure good productivity under the prevailing environmental and water scarcity conditions. With an initial investment of USD 23, a household can grow fodder to continuously sustain a

sheep all year round (and save USD 167 per year) by using drought tolerant crops. Herders can also re-use part of their production for replanting the next year. Under the

situation of high and volatile fodder prices on the international market, decreasing herders’ dependence on purchased fodder strongly increases their resilience.

Optimizing space and water in urban areas

Aquaculture ponds

Due to restrictions on access to land and sea, small scale fishers and farmers are some of the most affected by food insecurity in the Gaza Strip. It is therefore crucial to maximize their use of available resources. Through the use of integrated irrigation/aquaculture

units, water that is rich with nutrients from fish farming ponds is used to irrigate crops. In this manner water is used to raise fish (thus producing an additional source of protein and

cash income) before it is used for irrigation, allowing it to become a powerful fertilizer. One fish pond allows the beneficiary to produce an extra 400 kg of animal proteins per year while improving their irrigation water quality.

Small-scale aquaponics

Water and high quality soil are scarce resources in urban and peri-urban areas of the Gaza Strip, where food and nutrition insecurity is high. FAO builds small scale aquaponic systems for households in Gaza City, a very densely populated area where the community

has limited access to land and water. In this innovative intervention, water is re-circulated between a fish tank and growing beds for plant production (figure 1 and 2 below). The

added value of this system is that fish by-products are actually used by the plants as nutritive elements while filtering the water for re-use in the fish tank. This constant circulation of water between the fish tank and the grow bed allows for maximize water

efficiency. As in the above intervention, fish feed is the only recurring input required in this intervention, yielding outputs: animal protein and vegetables. For every USD 1

invested in a small-scale aquaponic unit, USD 2 worth of highly nutritious fish and vegetables can be produced.

Small-scale aquaponic unit