Project News

From 8 to 12 December, 2014, staff of the Project for Improvement of Irrigation System at the Abda Doukkala Irrigated area (DRIP) in Morocco, including two representatives of Water Users' Organizations (WUOs), Eng. Kimura and Eng. Endo, JICA Experts, visited the Project for Strengthening Water Management Transfer (SWMT Project) and exchanged the information on the two projects.

The DRIP is a technical cooperation project which aims at introduction of drip irrigation technique, establishment of WUOs for effective water management and increase of farmer's profits through adoption of high-valued crops in beneficiary areas of the Abda Doukkala Irrigated Area of Morocco where irrigation facilities were constructed by Japanese Yen Loan Project. The DRIP and SWMT Project had a meeting in Mardin of Turkey, where the first World Irrigation Forum (WIF) was held in September, 2013, in order to exchange information on Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) (Note: Please refer to the Project News on October 20, 2013).

On the occasion of this meeting, the two project teams actively exchanged their opinions about the significance of the Water Management Transfer (WMT) and their project activities to enhance abilities of the WUOs at the Central Department of Irrigation Advisory Service (CDIAS) of Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI), which is a main counterpart (CP) of the SWMT Project.

Furthermore, the mission of the DRIP visited Ebheet Branch Canal in Fayoum which is a pilot site of the SWMT Project as well as Rash el Garbi Branch Canal which was a pilot site of the Water Management Improvement Program Phase II (WMIP II), and exchanged information on their activities after they received briefings on current situations and activities by the local governmental staff and representatives of the WUOs.

Although the two projects have the common goal to achieve effective use of water resources through farmer's participation, it was beneficial for the DRIP team to get information from the Egyptian CPs who have longer history and experiences in WUO's activities. On the other hand, the Egyptian CPs were as well impressed by the Moroccan activities such as the drip irrigation and the high profitability of agriculture.

We hope that Morocco and Egypt will further expand their cooperation in order to contribute to the development of their neighboring countries by using their experiences of technical cooperation.

Group photo after the meeting at the CDIAS

Visit at the Ebheet BCWUA in Fayoum

Visit at the Rash el Garbi Branch Canal