Rainfed wheat productivity with supplemental irrigation in Al-Hasakeh, northern Syria

George Somme, Theib Oweis, Fahd El Omar, Ahmed Hachum, Riadh Shayeb, Nidal Jooni. (10/1/2005). Rainfed wheat productivity with supplemental irrigation in Al-Hasakeh, northern Syria. Aleppo, Syrian Arab Republic: International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA).

Abstract

In Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA), inter-seasonal rainfall variation coupled with poor intra-seasonal distribution results in low rainfed wheat yield with substantial fluctuations from one year to another. Alleviating soil moisture stress during critical crop growth stages of rainfed wheat can improve and stabilize crop productivity. This can be achieved with the use of supplemental irrigation. Supplemental irrigation (SI) is the addition of a limited amount of water to otherwise rainfed crops when rainfall fails to provide essential moisture for normal plant growth to improve and stabilize productivity. In Syria, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) has developed and implemented long-term research programs to optimize combinations of SI, improved varieties, N and sowing dates to improve and stabilize cereal yields and maintain quality. As a follow-up to these studies, the General Commission for Agricultural Scientific Research, Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, Syria, established a collaborative research program with ICARDA, aiming to improve the use and management of the water resources at the farm level. The program includes, among many other components, conducting collaborative research on SI for wheat. The ultimate goal is to find answers to many pressing questions concerning the evaluation of the SI impact on the yield and water productivity of specific wheat cultivars in order to arrive at concrete recommendations regarding the amount of SI at different crop growth stages that give optimum production. This report presents the results of a six-year study on supplemental irrigation for improving water-use efficiency and productivity of wheat in AI-Hasakeh governorate, northern Syria. One of the most important findings of the research is that about half of the supplemental irrigation water currently applied may be saved with only 10-15 % yield loss. The saved water may be applied to new rainfed crops with substantial yield increases. The findings and recommendations of this work have important policy implications which can benefit the farmers in rainfed areas in Syria and other similar environments in CWANA.