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05/12/2010 - Issue 0
Defeating drought with technology
by Stephen Starr
Thaher is looking forward to a good year this spring. His crops and vegetables look healthy in his nine hectare farm in the village of Fraytan in Syria’s central heartland. He and his father, Abu Amim have farmed the same land for over half a century in an area where rain has, for the past number of years, been a stranger.
Sitting in the orchard behind their modest house, Abu Amim, his wife and Thaher tell Forward Magazine of the changes they have implemented in order to move with the times and to give back to the land.
The drip irrigation system Abu Amim is now using to irrigate half of his land has brought significant rewards both for him and for the land his family work. The system consists of a series of hydro-jar pipes that bring water from farmer’s wells directly to the crops.
Through a series of small holes and valves in the plastic pipes, water is provided to crops in limited but sufficient amounts. The drip irrigation system is believed to use up to 90% less water than traditional methods. It also allows farmers to reduce the amount of time they spend irrigating their crops, leaving them free to work on other ways of improving their farms.
The Aga Khan Development Network, in conjunction with its affiliates, the Rural Development Program and the First Microfinance Institute in Syria, have been working for several years now to assist farmers in Fraytan and others in the wider Salamieh region.
Of the 40 households in Fraytan, most have benefited from at least one or several microloans of between $100 and $1,000 (individually) over the past five years.
The AKF facilitates access to new and improved irrigation technology, bridges the gap between national research centers and small farmers in the delivery of drought tolerant barley and wheat seed; 60-70% of families in Salamieh, for example, depend on agriculture as their main source of income.
“Because we have more money we can now keep more livestock, which are assets, and we have done some work to the house,” said Thaher. The family now has a loan of $20 per sheep for 40 sheep for which to buy animal feed. Abu Amim expects the loan to be paid back in August.
Abu Ala’a, a neighboring farmer, is another member of the 17-strong Fraytan loan group. “I began using the drip irrigation system for my lettuce crop this year and it’s very good,” he said, who also works part-time in an animal feed factory.
The first phase target of 95% land coverage of summer vegetables and fruit trees is nearing completion, according to the RDP. The focus thus far in Salamieh district by the AKF has squarely been upon behavioral change (relating to adoption of new technologies and improved agricultural practices), providing affordable and easily accessible loans and the provision of on-farm technical support.
“We hope to create a type of a cooperative here, to collect together and to sell together but we cannot ask them to do this. It is entirely their own choice,” said Ali Zein, the Program Manager for the Rural Development Program in Salamieh. Thaher himself stated his family did not wish to join up with other farmers in such a venture presently.
Thaher is using a drought-tolerant barley seed, which has been supplied by the Rural Development Program, and swears by it. “It uses less water and the quality of the head is better.”
The farmers in Fraytan don’t own their own tractor for preparing the land for planting, but hire one. A neighboring farmer is having his plot of barley from last year ploughed when we visit. “He will come and do our land the day after tomorrow,” said Thaher.
Agricultural loans in Salamieh
Other loans being taken out by farmers in increasing numbers in Salamieh are those for livestock feed, drought-tolerant seeds and plastic filtering systems that outlive the old metal systems by many years.
Despite a new irrigation project formed by the government in 2006 with more feasible loans and grants that cover 30–40% of the loans uptake throughout Syria has been low, largely it is thought, because such state loans require collateral that farmers either do not have or are unwilling to use against loans.
“The interest rate from the Agriculture Bank was less than what farmers pay to the Foundation but it was more complicated. Farmers had to provide evidence of collateral. Farmers who take loans from the Foundation’s Microfinance Institute don’t have to present any collateral and pay interest on a declining rate,” said Zein.
Abdulla Bin Yehia, the representative of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Damascus, has said that this period would prove vital for the farmers in Syria’s drought-hit regions. “The crops have had a good start to the spring but if there is frost then there will be serious problems. We will know by the end of April whether there will be successful harvests next autumn or not. God willing, there will be.”
These fears have been found to be true for Abu Ala’a’s crop of fool (fava beans). In February three days and nights of frost badly damaged his small plot, delaying his expectant harvesting date by several weeks. He fears that because of this he will miss the spring market for the “green fool” selling period, and will have to wait until later in the year to sell his yields.
As drought squeezes dry vast swathes of the country’s north and east regions, late last year the government sent emergency aid to assist 500,000 people in Syria’s northeast regions to help combat the growing effects of the drought. However, with more and more farmers taking on drip irrigation systems across Syria, increased yields using less water is something the people and the land they farm will mutually benefit from.
