Using water wisely to feed growing cities

Tunisia is helping to feed its growing cities by developing more efficient and sustainable agriculture that uses rainwater and recycled urban wastewater.

The article Optimising Use of Water for Urban Agriculture: Responding to the challenge of growing water scarcity in Tunisia by Boubaker Houman and Bouraoui Moez, featured in Urban Agriculture Magazine, summarizes IDRC-funded research in La Soukra, Tunisia. The initiative aimed to increase the city’s resilience to climate change and food insecurity by developing participatory models for the sustainable management of scarce water resources. The small farmers' experience of using rainwater and treated greywater successfully to improve urban food security holds relevance for other arid regions.

The article describes research results from a project supported by IDRC’s Climate Change and Water program, Rainwater and Greywater Harvesting in Urban and Periurban Agriculture in Ariana-Soukra (Tunisia).