Project: Advancing Water Innovative Technologies at Selected Farms Project Image
Project Partner: Mercy Corps Partner Image
Project Donor: United States Agency for International Development Donor Image
Project Title: Advancing Water Innovative Technologies at Selected Farms
Project Duration: 12 months
Location: Farms across Northern Jordan in Mafraq, Irbid, Madaba, Amman
Start Date: August 2020
End Date: August 2021
Beneficiaries: 17 farms, 6 agricultural engineering students (4 male, 2 female)

Project Details

Problem Statement

 

Jordan faces extreme water scarcity with demand outpacing the supply of freshwater. The agriculture sector is the largest consumer of Jordan’s freshwater supply which makes farmers and agricultural practices highly relevant for maintaining water consumption at sustainable levels. Farmers across the kingdom are suffering from high input costs and extreme water scarcity with many farmers being unable to afford water-saving technologies that can relieve water stress on farms and improve food and economic productivity. Reducing barriers to accessing new, efficient agro-technologies among farmers is the primary goal of this project.

 

Project Summary

 

The project’s ultimate objective is to promote water conserving technologies in agriculture. To achieve this objective, the project had two principal outputs:

 

  1. Enhance the quality of irrigation systems on farms and ensure that farmers’ equipment meets high quality standards in design, installation, and maintenance.
  2. Increase the capacity of youth by providing in-depth education on irrigation system optimization and best practices.  

MIRRA collaborated with market stakeholders such as suppliers, farmers, and agricultural engineering students to improve the management and design of irrigation systems for higher water efficiency.

 

Project Activities

 

This project proceeded in two principal components. First, quality assurance of the design, installation, operation, and maintenance of irrigation systems installed by different suppliers in the target area. In the beginning of the project, WIT and MIRRA personnel visited 8 farms in Mafraq and Azraq in order to introduce the project goals to local farmers and collect preliminary information about successful and unsuccessful practices used by farmers.  MIRRA later conducted 17 farm audits and produced evaluation reports for optimizing each farm’s operations including a complete review of their irrigation system components and field data collection.

 

Second, MIRRA staff conducted two cycles of capacity building for 6 recent graduates in agricultural engineering including two female agricultural engineers. Each cycle Training included theoretical training, practical training, and trips to different farms in Jordan to provide deeper perspective on farming practices. At the end of the apprenticeship, each trainee produced a case study report of what they have learned throughout the program.

 

Advances in Local Infrastructure

 

This project directly enhanced the capabilities of 17 farms across the north of Jordan. In some cases, farmers experienced more success than in other cases depending on the willingness of suppliers to participate and support the optimization of their farming systems. However, important advances were made to the equipment of farms that resulted in measurable improvements in water savings and energy consumption.

 

Project Impact According to OECD-DAC Evaluation Criteria

Project Relevance

 

Farmers in Jordan face extreme water scarcity, increasing costs of inputs, and a lack of support for managing their operations. In many cases, farmers in Jordan cannot afford to improve their equipment or invest in new, water-saving agro-technologies that will support their farms in the long-term. Based on preliminary visits to farms, it is clear that many farmers struggle with maintaining drip-irrigation systems which can reverse the water- and energy-saving properties of drip irrigation systems. Local suppliers of irrigation systems often lack the knowledge and capacity to properly install irrigation systems which also reduces their overall effectiveness and may cost farmers potential water- and energy-savings.

 

From evaluations conducted on the farmers of project participant, MIRRA identified numerous problems in existing farming practices: drip emitters clogging, leakages in irrigation networks, gaps in the knowledge to operation irrigation networks.  Over 90% of evaluated farms regularly experienced clogging due to chemical, physical, or biological materials. Training on proper filtration and flushing was therefore critical to achieving water savings. Many leaks were found on the joints of irrigation piping throughout the farm. Therefore, regular check-ups are essential for maintaining the efficient operation of the irrigation system. During the initial evaluations, many farmers were found to be unaware of how to maintain drip-irrigation systems. Consequently, improving farming operations by evaluating, optimizing, and training farmers on best-practices for existing systems is an important and relevant step towards improving agricultural productivity and reducing water consumption in the agriculture sector.

 

This project also trained recent graduates in agricultural fields in modern irrigation techniques.  Pervasive unemployment, particularly among youth, mean that training programs can be highly impactful for youth to become more employable and find work in the rural job market.

 

Project Coherence

 

This project advances the objectives of MIRRA’s past and on-going projects to build the capacity of farmers and students in modern irrigation methods. The project activities undertaken as a part of this project harmonize with MIRRA’s activities in the Jordan Valley and compliments many of the same objectives as our past projects. In this project, we target different farms in new areas outside the Jordan Valley where our climate-smart farm is based and hosts many capacity building projects for local refugees and Jordanians.

 

Project Effectiveness

 

The project achieved its stated objectives and outcomes. On-farm evaluations and optimizations were conducted for 17 farms across five regions in Jordan.

 

Graph1: Number of farms evaluated per region
Graph1: Number of farms evaluated per region

Each of these evaluations engaged farmers directly and provided the basis for optimizing their farm systems based on their unique needs and obstacles. MIRRA cooperated with local suppliers, agricultural experts, and universities to co-develop solutions to each farmer’s needs. The process of optimization improved farmers’ ability to maintain and operate critical infrastructure for achieving water-savings thereby advancing the first output of this project: to enhance the quality of irrigation systems in installation, operation, and maintenance. However, the project was unable to achieve the initially proposed number of farm visits due to suppliers’ lack of commitment to the project’s goals. Some suppliers delayed the process of obtaining necessary information and documentation, or they showed no interest in following up on the audit and evaluation process. While this affected MIRRA’s ability to fully achieve its initially planned output, it did achieve important strides in optimizing the farms it targeted. Three types of optimizations were observed in the evaluated farms: changing the emission devices from high discharge to lower discharge, renewing the laterals and emitters, or replacing the non-pressure compensating emitters with pressure compensating emitters. During the project, 58% of farm optimization was achieved through renewing the same irrigation system. 

 

MIRRA’s experienced team of irrigation engineers taught students all of the components involved within a drip irrigation system: the design of irrigation networks, filtration, fertigation, as well as scientific knowledge about water hydraulics, soil, climate, and other relevant factors that impact the performance of drip irrigation systems. Such knowledge equips students with the knowledge and experience to work with modern agriculture methods and be equipped with the skills needed to improve Jordan’s agriculture sector.

 

Project Efficiency

 

This project used resources efficiently in two primary ways. First, by optimizing existing systems, MIRRA was able to achieve water-savings without the need for intensive capital investment to improve or replace irrigation equipment. By first addressing the gaps in existing irrigation systems, MIRRA could simultaneously build the capacity of farmers on important irrigation and agriculture concepts using systems they are familiar with. This ensures that the changes made while optimizing their system are understood by the farmers, and therefore, they can maintain these optimizations into the future for continued water-savings beyond the span of this project. Second, direct engagement with farmers and suppliers allowed project staff to clearly diagnose issues within each farmer’s operations and to suggest improvements. Direct engagement led to a clear understanding between farmer and MIRRA staff to implement efficient changes.

 

Project Impact

 

This project achieved notable impacts on the lives of farmer and students. The first output achieved important advances in the infrastructure of 17 farms. Each farm received specialized consultation from MIRRA staff to monitor their farm’s specifications and propose solutions based on the farms challenges. One farmer experienced persistent clogging in his drip emitters due to a poor filtration system that demanded time and labor. Upon close inspection, it was discovered that high quantities of iron and sulphate were the cause of the emitters clogging. MIRRA provided customized filtration unit that continues to serve the farmer’s needs resulting in time and labor saved.

 

Another farmer changed his emitter types from viro-jets (micro-irrigation) to pressure compensating (PC) online emitters with a flow rate of 20 liters per hour. The PC emitters’ flow rate is less than that of the viro-jets and allows for more precise irrigation which contributes to significant water and energy savings on the farm. Before switching to PC emitters, the farmer used to operate his irrigation pump from the entire month in order to fully irrigate his field. After the optimization process with MIRRA, he only operates his pump one week per month saying that “I noticed a difference in the energy consumption. I used to operate the pump every day, now at least I can turn off the pump 6 days a month.” Several farmers reported similar findings with energy costs decreasing by 30-50% by switching from viro-jets to PC emitters. Another farmer reported water savings of 30% under the optimized system.

 

The impact of the on-farm optimization process extended beyond water and energy savings. One farmer invested the cumulative savings of time, labor, water, and energy gained under this project to build a hydroponic system on his farm. Without facing the burden of water shortage, this farmer is capable of reinvesting into his own farm to further realize water and energy savings from new techniques, such as hydroponics, and he plans on building more hydroponic systems on his farm.

 

The apprenticeship program trained six agricultural engineering students in modern irrigation methods. Students received training in six different modules covering topics such as hydraulics, crop evapotranspiration, designing drip irrigation networks, the soil-water relationship, irrigation scheduling, and evaluation methods of drip irrigation such as uniformity and efficiency. MIRRA combined practical training with theoretical training for a deep understanding of the components and considerations of designing, operating, and maintaining a drip irrigation system.

 

Each of the six agricultural engineering students received training in hard skills such as report writing, CropWat software, and ClimWat software. At the conclusion of this training program, four of the six students were hired by agricultural organizations to begin working in Jordan’s agricultural sector.

 

Project Sustainability

 

The capacity-building element of this project will ensure that capital improvements to each of the 17 farms will persist into the future benefiting farmers and the surrounding community. The project engaged with farmers at all stages of the project and trained them on the necessary concepts and technologies implemented on their farm. The capital improvements to each farm will have lifecycles which will persist for several growing seasons, and with farmers more aware on how to properly maintain their systems, it is possible these systems will continue to last longer than average providing further water and energy savings each month.

 

The capacity building of students is a sustainable model for improving the human resources and awareness of Jordan’s agriculture sector. The knowledge and skills they acquired will continue to serve their professional goals into the future. Two thirds of the agricultural engineering students who participated in this project have been hired into the agricultural labor market. They will continue to benefit financially and professionally as a consequence of their training received during this project.

 

Stakeholder Engagement with Strategic Groups

Project Beneficiaries                                  

 

This project targeted both farmers and youth as the direct beneficiaries of this project. Capacity building activities for both farmers and agricultural engineering students provides awareness of modern irrigation techniques, builds trust between MIRRA and the community we serve, as well as target the wider context of the agriculture sector in Jordan where farmers struggle to improve their farming operations and young Jordanians struggle to find work in the rural labor market where unemployment is widespread.  

 

Project Engagement with Farmers

 

MIRRA’s engagement with farmers was primarily done through an advisory role built upon mutual understanding and trust. Evaluations of farms were done in transparency and cooperation with farmers. All results and data collection were shared and explained to the farmers. MIRRA worked to build greater understanding between farmers, their operations, the suppliers who provide them with equipment, and other consulting organizations in the agriculture sector.

 

Project Engagement with Youth 

 

MIRRA strives to educate students on modern irrigation methods and climate resilient agriculture. During this project, we directly engage agricultural engineering students with a focus on investing in female engineers. MIRRA announced the training opportunity on social media pages of several universities: Jordan University, Hashemite University, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Balqa’ Applied University. More than 250 CVs per cycle were received. MIRRA pre-selected a subset of CVs based on the following criteria:  the applicant should have a bachelor’s degree in agriculture engineering specializing in irrigation or water, be entry-level, and have good soft skills in MS office and communication. Applicants were further evaluated based on university performance, skills, training courses, an interview process and English test. MIRRA performed all necessary steps to select qualified and competitive applicants for this apprenticeship program in order to ensure its long-term success and the students’ success in completing the apprenticeship.

 

Project photo album

 

Picture 1: MIRRA’s team conducts on-site EC tests for water.
Picture 2: MIRRA’s team collecting data from the field.
Picture 3: MIRRA’s team performs uniformity tests to evaluate the efficiency of drip irrigation systems.
Picture 4: MIRRA’s team records critical measurements to optimize irrigation systems.
Picture 5: MIRRA’s team conducts examinations during the training program.
Picture 6: MIRRA’s team conducts on-site pH tests for water.
Picture 7: MIRRA’s team interviews a farm owner to gather insights about the irrigation system in the farm.