SALINITY MANAGEMENT
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Masafumi Tamura. (15/1/2017). SALINITY MANAGEMENT.
Abstract
Water is the major limiting factor of agricultural production in the dry areas of Central and
West Asia and North Africa (CWANA) regions. Agriculture accounts for around 80-90% of
freshwater consumption in the regions. However, the rapidly growing population,
industrialization, and urbanization will lead to reallocation of water increasingly away from
agriculture to other sectors. On the other hand, high population growth rates require a
continuous increase in agricultural production.
Salinity management in agriculture is interpreted differently by different entities. This often
creates misunderstandings about approaches towards managing salinity (or effects of salinity)
in agriculture.
Most of the salinity-affected areas in Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Sudan and Tunisia are related to
irrigation water management. Irrigation water management can either be the cause, and/or the
solution to salinity management in agriculture. In countries like Jordan and Palestine, solutions
to reduce salinity in saline areas are highly limited, or not economically feasible. Therefore, we
approach salinity management in terms of "fighting salinity" for areas where water
management is a possible tool, and "living with salinity" where we are adjusting our agronomic
practices to maximize agricultural production under saline conditions. Note that one approach
does not exclude the other, and that in areas of the Mesopotamian plain, as well as in the Nile
Delta, a mixture of solutions from the "fighting salinity" and "living with salinity" is needed.
ICARDA's mission is to improve the welfare of people through agricultural research and training
to increase the production, productivity, and quality of food, while preserving or improving the
resource base. ICARDA's training courses are designed to improve the capabilities of scientists
and technicians in national agricultural research systems (NARS) in developing countries to
conduct research independently, and to foster transfer of technology and address issues
related to farmers' decisions in adopting or rejecting new technologies. To this end, ICARDA has
organized this course.
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Tamura, Masafumi https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1688-4168