Page 45 - AA 2024

Syria

FAO provides a climate smart technology to improve

agricultural production in Eastern Ghouta

A well-levelled land is important for FAO, with the support of the Adaptation the soil is removed from higher to lower
farmers in rural areas as it makes irri- Fund, has supported the maintenance, places in an automated process, thus lev-
gation easier, faster, and more efficient assembly and calibration of two Laser elling the land while keeping a simple
since water can reach every part of the Land Levelling Units (LLL), as well as slope to enable uniformity of water dis-
field evenly with minimum waste. Accord- performing laser levelling for 200 ha of tribution in the field,”
ing to FAO Syria technical experts, land land in Eastern Ghouta, Rural Damascus.
levelling is an essential climate-smart The advantages of using this technology Al Kanani states that the technical staff
agricultural practice before sowing. Un- are various: with less use of fuel and en- responsible for operating the unit have
even land makes it harder for water to be ergy to pump irrigation water the LLL will received a training to operate and con-
absorbed evenly. Traditional land level- contribute to reducing Greenhouse Gas duct maintenance of the units: “This tech-
ling has often proved to be ineffective Emissions (GHG) in the long-run. The nology saves time, money and human ef-
and wasted labour for farmers: “When technology will also improve food secu- fort making agriculture more sustainable
we try to even the land surface using tra- rity and income for farmers and people and climate adaptive.” She adds.
ditional land levelling, this can result in due to improved production, as well as “Farmers in Syria are used to tradi-
the creation of small water ponds, which saving resources, mainly water, by ensur- tional irrigation methods that need enor-
prevents the crops from absorbing wa- ing even coverage and less time for irri- mous water quantities, which may result
ter equally, and has a negative impact on gation processes.
production quality and quantity.” - Yousef FAO’s water specialist, Janet Al Kanani, in a considerable yield variability at the
Al-Khatib, a farmer from Eastern Ghouta, field level due to partial water logging.
Rural Damascus. explained the principle of LLLU opera- The LLL unit will increase agricultural
tion: “The land is scanned by a laser de- productivity and income, build resilience
To promote climate-adaptive methods, vice to guide the unit for levelling, where to climate change, lower irrigation time
and contribute to the mitigation of Green-
house Gas Emissions as less time spent
on irrigation means less energy spent on
irrigation,” Said Amer Jnedan, FAO’s Na-
tional Project Manager of the Adaptation
Fund Project.
For information dissemination purpos-
es on LLL to farmers, FAO along with the
UNHABITAT, specialists from the Ministry
of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform and
representatives of the General Commis-
sion for Scientific Agricultural Research,
conducted a field awareness session to
familiarize them with the benefits of us-
ing laser levelling on irrigated land and
the proper operation of the unit.
Arab Agriculture 2024 43