1) The document discusses progress in implementing soil conservation and water harvesting practices in Jordan to combat land degradation and improve agricultural productivity. 2) Projects have focused on soil conservation, water harvesting, grazing management, and supplemental irrigation through techniques like hill lakes. 3) Results indicate these practices have reduced soil and water losses while increasing biomass and productivity, encouraging farmers to adopt water harvesting.

1. Progress in implementing soil conservation and water
harvesting in Jordan
Feras Ziadat, Mohammad Mudabber, Ahmed Sharydeh, Awad Ka’abneh
Consortium Research Program on Dryland Systems (CRP DS)
ICARDA – NCARE Technical Meeting for Tafilah-Salamieh Action
Site (Jordan sites)
Ayass Hotel, Amman September 21-22, 2014
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2. 2
Conductive-Line activities
across countries & sites
Develop, test and disseminate soil and water conservation
practices to combat land degradation and improve agricultural
productivity
Soil Conservation
• Land degradation and water scarcity
are major threats in the dry areas
• The area suffer from severe
soil erosion and reduction in
productivity.
Devastating land
degradation
resulting from
extreme rainfall
events

3. 3
3
Conductive-Line activities
across countries & sites
Develop, test and disseminate soil and water conservation
practices to combat land degradation and improve agricultural
productivity
Soil Conservation
• Selection of farmers and four fields in
Erak and Tafila, implementation
arrangements
• Maintenance of existing structures
• Establishing demonstration fields in
Mushaggar (IWLMP and DISPS)
Participatory testing and dissemination of
soil and water conservation interventions

4. 4
4
Conductive-Line activities
across countries & sites
Develop, test and disseminate soil and water conservation
practices to combat land degradation and improve agricultural
productivity
Water harvesting and grazing
management
• Maintenance of existing system in Erak
• Selection of site for implementing
Valerrani WH in Tafila to start in
November 2014

5. 5
Conductive-Line activities
across countries & sites
Develop, test and disseminate soil and water conservation
practices to combat land degradation and improve agricultural
productivity
Water harvesting and
grazing management
• Selection of site for
integrated watershed
management in Majidyya
(IWLMP and DISPS)
• Organizing two field days
for grazing management
in Majidyya (IWLMP and
DISPS)

6. 6
Conductive-Line activities
across countries & sites
Develop, test and disseminate soil and water conservation
practices to combat land degradation and improve agricultural
productivity
Water harvesting and supplemental irrigation
• Implementation of hill lake (~7,000 m3),
cultivation of barley and vegetable crops, data
collection.
• Farmers’ initiative and support from NCARE &
ICARDA
Water harvesting to improve productivity and
livelihoods

7. Water harvesting & supplemental irrigation
7
Price
JOD
• Implementation (January 2014)
• Cost (6248 JOD)
Production
Ton
Area
Dunum
No. Crop
3.5 (Seed) 1500
50
1 Barley
5.0 (Hay) 1000
2 Cucumber 5 4.50 2625
3 Tomato 25 11 .00 3200
4 Corn - 0.50 150
5 Pepper - 0.25 100
Total 8575

8. 8
Conductive-Line activities
across countries & sites
Develop, test and disseminate soil and water conservation
practices to combat land degradation and improve agricultural
productivity
Watershed modeling
• Data collection for the 2013/2014 season
• Data analysis and results
• MSc thesis defended successfully by Lubna
Mahasneh (partially supported by CRP-DS):
Adapting SWAT Model to Assess the Impact of Water
Harvesting Interventions on Runoff and Soil Erosion in
an Arid Environment: A Case from Jordan

9. Watershed modeling, monitoring and management
Calibration by comparing farmers’ practices versus water harvesting
interventions
Without water harvesting With water harvesting intervention
(Farmers Practice)
Soil and water
losses No/little losses
 Simulated and observed sediment yield and runoff quantified the potential
of water harvesting interventions in reducing soil erosion and combat land
degradation.
 Simulated and observed biomass increase should encourage formers to
adopt water harvesting interventions to maximize productivity and provide
protection against erosive rainfall.

10. 10
Conductive-Line activities
across countries & sites
Develop, test and disseminate soil and water conservation
practices to combat land degradation and improve agricultural
productivity
Watershed modeling
• Introductory SWAT workshops, Amman - January
2014
• Advanced SWAT workshops, Amman - June 2014

11. 11
Conductive-Line activities
across countries & sites
Develop, test and disseminate soil and water conservation
practices to combat land degradation and improve agricultural
productivity
Activities summarized
• Soil conservation: fine-tuning and dissemination through
participatory trials – integration with DISPS
• Water harvesting and grazing management: working with
farmers to fine-tune grazing practices – integration with DISPS
• Water harvesting and supplemental irrigation (hill lakes): testing
a model in Tafila
• Watershed modeling: to assess the impact of soil and water
conservation, mainstreaming and training
• Integrated land use planning and suitability analysis –
collaboration with ARMP II (IFAD funded project)

12. 12
Conductive-Line activities
across countries & sites
Develop, test and disseminate soil and water conservation
practices to combat land degradation and improve agricultural
productivity
Overall message
• The adaptability of the
proposed interventions and
acceptability by
communities are promising
indicators for wider uptake
and adoption
Soil eaters !!!