In parts of Syria the water table is dropping at an alarming rate. Stephen Starr investigates a pilot project for irrigation and financing that is helping farmers beat the drought and survive in one of the most water-starved areas of the world. Photographs by Ivor Prickett.
In 50 years of farming, Abu Amim has never experienced anything as bad as the drought of 2008.
“It affected us greatly, there was just not enough groundwater,” says the 85-year-old farmer, who lives with his wife and their three children in Fraytan, a small hamlet in Syria’s central plains. In the parched earth, his crops failed. “We had to turn all our land into grazing for the sheep as we had no crops to feed them – and even this wasn’t enough.”
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Under the new system, a network of toughened plastic pipes directs precise amounts of water to crops through hundreds of pin-sized holes, restricting the overall amount of water being drawn from nearby wells.
The project, which has now been expanded and will continue to grow, was financed through the Aga Khan Foundation’s Rural Support Programme, which has been providing loans and equipment to help tackle the growing problem of water shortage in Salamieh since 2003.
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