Time & Date of Event 

2:00 PM to 3:00 PM on Monday, 14th of November 2022 

Event Overview 

Objectives:  

• Improving agricultural water productivity and irrigation efficiency under marginal conditions 
• Increasing irrigation water accessibility for smallholder farmers to practice biosaline agriculture 
• Exposing audience on innovations in earth observations for better management of scarce water resources 
• Identifying efficient solutions for agriculture in biosaline environment  
• Showcasing examples on stress-tolerant crops and integrated aqua-agriculture solutions  

Content: 

• Discussing methods and approaches for increasing the yield per water used, the constraints and limitations under marginal environment, new innovations that suits the poor soil and water quality 
• Highlighting the accessibility to surface and groundwater sources and the potential for using solar panels to ease the allocation of irrigation water  
• Presenting the presence of open access earth observation data and how they can be hydrologically connected to prepare water balances of field scale, irrigation schemes and river basins. Water balances from earlier work in the Middle East will be demonstrated including international river basins that facilitates a transparent water allocation and evaluating the benefits (economic, ecosystems, societal) from consumptive use 
• Presenting some case studies from ICBA on biosaline agriculture 
• Highlighting the importance of building the capacity of farmers to better adapt and mitigate climate change 

Event Outcomes 

• Innovative solutions as part of adaptation to climate change such as climate -resilient crops, water saving technologies, best management practices are listed 
• Policy incentives to introduce small-scale irrigation are proposed 
• Awareness on water management including meteorological observations is raised 
• Best practices for biosaline agriculture in marginal environments are identified 
• ICBA case studies are presented 
• Examples on water management solutions in Africa are shared 
• Irrigation scheduling procedure is discussed 
• Capacity building initiatives to farmers are identified