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The project

ACCBAT is a strategic project within the EU ENPI-CBCMED Programme under:

Priority 2: Promotion of environmental sustainability at the basin level

Topic 2.1: Water Management

Priority and topic

Beneficiary
ICU – Istituto per la Cooperazione Universitaria – ONLUS (Italy, Lazio)

Partnership

  1. National Centre for Agricultural Research and Extension (NCARE, Jordan)
  2. Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture (MoA, Lebanon)
  3. Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture (DG GREE, MoA, Tunisia)
  4. River Po Basin Authority (AdbPO, Italy)

Project duration
36 months (December 2012 – December 2015)

Project budget
The ACCBAT project is implemented under the ENPI CBC Mediterranean Sea Basin Programme. Its total budget is 4,99 million Euro and it is financed, for an amount of 4,49 million Euro (90%), by the European Union through the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument. The ENPI CBC Med Programme aims at reinforcing cooperation between the European Union and partner countries regions placed along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.

Project’s specific objectives
To improve water demand management and ensure water needs of the agricultural sector on a regional scale through:

  • increasing water-use efficiency;
  • increasing the use of treated waste water for irrigated agriculture;
  • reducing negative environmental impacts;

based on

  • technology transfer,
  •  training in Best Agricultural Practices.

Background – Main problems detected by the project partners

  • All three countries have recently invested in waste water treatment plants on a large scale, but re-use of treated waste water in agricultural irrigation is low mainly because of quality reasons.
  • Irrigation methods currently in use in the target areas are not efficient (surface, sprinkler irrigation) and often managed in a way that leads to water waste (drip irrigation),
  • production methods are not water-saving and do not follow Best Agriculture Practices.
  • Regional cooperation on a Mediterranean scale between the partner institutions on the use of treated waste water and networking with advanced research institutes in Europe do not currently exist.
  • Farmers’ main concerns are related to decreasing incomes due to several factors:
  • decreased production caused by not-efficient irrigation management, water shortages and irregular water delivery,
  • lack of know-how on production and protection methods including the use of treated waste water.

Target groups

  • Staff of the local partners institutions
  • Farmers households in the target areas
  • Management and extension services of the local partner institutions
  • Local population

 

Location of the project

Jordan.

Highlands along the Jordan Valley with potential sites: Ramtha Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTP) in Irbid region, As Salt WWPT in Balqa region, and Madaba WWTP in Madaba region. No demonstration plots are planned for the Jordan Valley as the whole area south of Deir Allah is already irrigated with a mix of freshwater from the King Abdullah channel and treated wastewater from the Amman WWTP.

Lebanon.

The WWTP of Ablah, Caza of Zahleh, in the Bekaa Valley.

Tunisia.

The potential target areas are in Nabeul region in particular with the WWTP of Beni Khiar and in Merjada, Cap Bon, for the demonstration plots on crop-demand drive

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