Faced with lingering drought, Tunisia's olive and wheat farmers have been struggling for years.
Abdelmajid Belghouti, a farmer in Kairouan, looks ruefully at what remains of the water storage basins that once served his forebears, the Aghlabides, who have farmed these lands for thousands of years. With rainfall increasingly scarce, the basins no longer carry enough water, and difficult decisions have to be made.
"We live in the countryside. We have no water," the 50-year-old says. "Every house has a basin that stores rainwater. We can either drink or use it for irrigation."
The solution for the farms lies in mobilizing water from the nearby Sidi Saad dam. The African Development Bank is funding a EUR 59 million project to develop an irrigation project that is making available to farmers water that was previously inaccessible inside the dam, one of the largest in Tunisia. The project also includes the deployment of solar-powered pumping systems.
Now things are changing for the better. The project has been a lifesaver for Abdelmajid's farm of olive trees, stretching across five hectares in Kairouan governorate. "Water is available, olives are of better quality, and we've even been able to plant wheat," he says.
A surge in yields means that he now earns as much as 5,000 dinars from each hectare, compared with 1,500 before the irrigation project.
Abdelmajid is just one of more than 20,000 farmers who have benefited. Half of these are women, who can now boast of greater financial independence and a better quality of life. Some 9,000 hectares in total have been brought into production.
Imen Tahri, the president of an agricultural development group in Sidi Bouzid, is one of those women. Before the project, she was considering abandoning agriculture. Now, thanks to irrigation, she says her olive harvest has risen seven-fold, and she now makes enough from the farm to cover her family's needs.
Kairouan also happens to be a UNESCO World Heritage site. By making more water available, the Bank-funded project is helping preserve and enhance the region's historic landscapes, and revitalising the local economy - making a difference to the lives of many.
