What is the SafeAgroMENA Project?

Project Title: Reuse of nutrient-rich treated wastewater for a food self-sufficiency in MENA: Addressing health concerns of emerging contaminants of small-scale farmers through agro-ecological tools (SafeAgroMENA)

Target Countries: Egypt, Jordan, Iraq

Duration: 2022 - 2026

Funded under IHE Delft Water and Development Partnership Programme (DUPC) by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Netherlands

Project Partners: Royal Scientific Society (RSS), Nile University (NU), Benaa Foundation, Organic Valley Association for community development and organic agriculture, Holding company of Water and Wastewater (HCWW), Society of Women's Hemah, Mutah University, Ministry of Water and Irrigation - Water Authority of Jordan (WAJ/MWI), Basrah University, and Agricultural Directorate of Basra. 

Summary of the project: The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is one of the driest regions in the world where less than 1% of freshwater resources are available for nearly 600 million inhabitants. The increased competition between urban and rural users over the scarce freshwater supplies resulted in highlighting the prominent role of non-conventional water resources. Hence, most MENA region countries are scaling up the reuse of treated wastewater in agriculture while transferring freshwater to priority uses. These multidimensional challenges sparked the interest of the partners' organization to develop this project

Project Objectives:

• To analyze how treated wastewater (as water irrigation source) is distributed, accessed, managed, and reused.
• To develop socio-economic, and institutional assessments for the target communities.
• To design and implement roadmaps through the multi-stakeholder process and integrated participatory approach for greater safe uptake through adopting agro-ecological interventions.
• To enrich existing educational programs (MSc, professional program, short courses, training sessions) in target countries with lessons learned and research findings.
• To facilitate knowledge exchange and disseminate success stories, lessons learned, and findings with IHE Delft on one hand and across all partnered countries on the other hand.