Improving water supply in agriculture by introducing agricultural management practices able to satisfy the sector's needs through a more efficient use of water and the use of waste water for irrigation is the objective of European project ACCBAT, coordinated by the Institute for university cooperation (Icu) in Rome, at the center of a conference that opened Wednesday in Nabeul, Tunisia.

 

The event, called ''Strategic project ACCBAT, realizations and perspectives'', was the occasion to discuss the state of implementation of the EU-funded plan within the trans-border cooperation program IEVP CTMED, which involves Tunisia, Italy, Lebanon and Jordan. The project lasts three years and is worth five million euros.

 

Results of activities carried out by Icu and partners - the National Jordanian center for agricultural research, the Lebanese ministry of agriculture, the Tunisian agriculture ministry, and the Italian authority of the Po basin - were presented. In particular, practical actions coordinated by the project in Tunisia, Jordan and Lebanon were presented in the improved management of water resources in agriculture, through the use of new technologies like new-generation irrigation systems enabling to save water and the use of depurated waste water, a key issue in pro-environment policies at a European level.

 

''Tunisia has invested a lot in this project, which enables to save 30% of fresh water consumption thanks to treated waste water, and intends to implement it in several regions of the country, though it is necessary to pass policies to persuade farmers'', said Dhahbi Ghanmi, in charge of Accbat in Tunisia.

 

The event in Nabeul also sheds light on a success story in trans-border cooperation in the Mediterranean with the inauguration in the afternoon, in Oued Souhil, of a pilot station for the demonstration of irrigation techniques with treated waste water.