FAO contributes to strengthening the capabilities of the irrigation and water technicians

8 February 2021, Damascus - In attendance of Louay Barakat, Director General of the General Organization for Land Development, Abdul Majeed Al-Kafri, Director of the General Organization of Remote Sensing, FAO technical experts, technicians from the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform and line ministries, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has launched a training course on the Natural Resources Assessment (NRA) tools.

This latest technical training course on natural resource assessment, started on 7 February, is an element in a wider specialized training programme on water resources monitoring, irrigation management and natural resources assessment to ensure information flow and analysis, to support the sustainability of natural resources management in the country.

This training is linked to further training courses on the operation and maintenance of small-scale pumping sets  targeting 2 400 farmers in Dier Ez Zor, Rural Damascus and Homs governorates.

 In his opening speech, FAO Syria’s national water and irrigation team leader, Wael Seif, stressed the importance of sustainable water use for improved agricultural production. “FAO is keen to provide the needed support to rehabilitate the irrigation infrastructure, and to improve the national technicians’ capabilities for the agriculture sector’s best interest,” he added.

This week’s participants will be introduced to a number of advanced tools, including FAO software to assess natural resources and measure impacts of irrigation projects on agricultural production, watershed management, soil and water assessment (the SWAT tool) and the water productivity open access portal (WaPOR) benefiting from Syrian network of experts who were trained by FAO in Rome, including representatives of the General Organization of Remote Sensing (GORS), The General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research (GCSAR) and the General Commission of Water Resources (GCWR) who participated in FAO previous work and training.