Water shortage plagues Al-Ahsa farms

Two experts on the Kingdom’s agricultural development have made predictions that Al-Ahsa province will be self-sufficient in three years in terms of agricultural production, specifically in terms of vegetables. Local production will meet the needs of the nearly one and a half million people living in the province.
Agricultural expert Mahdi Al-Ramadan, a major investor in agriculture in Al-Ahsa, told the Arabic daily Asharq Al-Awsat: "There has been a significant improvement in the quantity of production of agricultural crops in the last 10 years, compared to what it was years ago. However, the ability to meet the demand of the domestic market still does not exist because there is a scarcity of water. The projects undertaken by the Drainage and Irrigation Authority, notably conversion of waterways to tubes and removal of the open irrigation channels, will have a significant impact on the flourishing of agriculture in Al-Ahsa in the next few years.
This will bring the crop to the ratio sufficient to meet the market need for basic vegetables, such as tomatoes, onions, lemon and others, which the province needs to import, either from inside or outside the Kingdom."
Al-Ramadan noted that due to the scarcity of water in recent years, many investors were not interested in investing in agriculture. Many farms were converted to rest houses and other uses. With improved irrigation canals, agriculture will become an attractive investment, especially with the imposition of new regulations concerning converting farms to rest houses.
He added that the project carried out by the Drainage and Irrigation Authority is designed to remove open canals and replace them with pipes running by a dripping system. The quantity of water that is needed daily for each farm will be estimated by an ad hoc committee and a valve attached to a computer will measure the quantities running to each targeted farm. This project, which has already entered its first phase, is expected to be completed within three years, creating excellent conditions for the abundance of agricultural production. Al-Ramadan added: "This project is not the only one to ensure the provision of safe and clean water to the farms. The pipeline from Alkhobar to Al-Ahsa will bring more than 200,000 cubic meters of triple treated water daily, and will cover more than 30 percent of the needed water. This is the main source of optimism for improving the agricultural situation in Al-Ahsa through government projects. "
Another expert in the field, Abdullah bin Abdul Mohsen Al-Shayeb, director of the Palm Center, said the deficit in water presents a lot of obstacles to farmers wanting to diversify their crops. “There has been a focus on some products from one farm to another, but the palm trees were benefiting from the most attention at the end. This is proved by the increase in the number of palms by one million in just ten years,” he said.
Al- Shayeb also told Asharq Al-Awsat that there are farmers in the east of Al-Ahsa who have reinforced their desire for growing tomatoes and some kinds of vegetables because of the abundance of water. Others limited their attention to crops that can be grown easily and require less attention, such as lemons. All this is a result of water scarcity and a lack of ability of a large segment of farmers to provide or seek to move toward protected farm houses. He considers the upcoming projects for Irrigation and Drainage Authority encouraging, although there are some drawbacks that could result from removing some open channels.