Course Report on Geoinformatics application in agriculture and resilience

Abstract

The Tigers and Euphrates rivers are the main sources of water supply in Iraq; these two sources are largely utilized in agriculture sector which consumers about 85 % of the total quantity received. However, with haphazard climate change impacts due to unprecedented drought, which has eclipsed previously notable low-rainfall years in 2009 and 2015, and trans boundary withholdings of surface water from upstream Syria and Turkey, the country’s name “the land between the two rivers” is now becoming a misnomer.

In 2018, as the summer wore on, Iraq’s cultivated areas were reduced by half compared to the previous year. The disappearing agricultural lands may spark a displacement crisis far beyond what Iraq has already suffered after a three-year war against so-called Islamic State (ISIS). From the Isis crisis and the military operation against the jihadi group, Iraq had nearly three million internally displaced persons (IDPs).

The Third Country Training Program, one of JICA’s capacity building program, is a typical example which respond and provide science-based technical solution to above critical issues. Statistical design, data analysis and Geoinformatics application are crucial for identifying and managing water resources for irrigation, and agricultural water economics and impact assessment of water resource management are essential for better agricultural water policies and institutions with efficient use of limited water resource in Iraq.