Tunisia is a small country in north of Africa. It is the ancient Carthage Empire.  In this country, more than 3/4 of the land is arid (getting less than 300mm rainfall/year). In this water scarcity climate conditions, Tunisia has developed the largest number of olive trees: more than 70 millions olive trees. The majority of the olive trees are not irrigated, getting only rainfall water (rain fed or dry farming system). This big number of trees makes Tunisia one of the main worldwide producers of olive oil with Italy, Greece and Spain. In 2015 Tunisia was the first exporter of olive oil in the world.        With the climate change, since several decades we are observing more and more long droughts (1 till 4 years completely dry) similar to California situation the last 4 years. During The long droughts, there is no rains which can feed, by infiltration, the water reserves in the soil of the dry farming olive oil trees. This induces negative impacts on growth (most of the leaves and thin branches are completely dry, in some conditions the trees are completely dry), yield (no yield).  The negative impacts of long droughts induce also important reduction of olive oil production and export.         In 1983, Arid Region Institute has initiated a research program focused on finding solutions for sustainable water resources management in the arid regions of Tunisia, to make the 70 millions of olive trees alive and producing regularly within the conditions of climate change.   After about 30 years of field research, 2 new technologies have been developed and tested: “the draining floater” and the “buried diffusers”. The first allows to “pump” and distribute, down stream, the water of dams (small, medium and big size) using the gravity and siphon principle. The second allows to irrigate with 70% less water than drip irrigation to get the same or higher yield (vegetables or trees). The buried diffuser allows also:  to deliver only one irrigation per year in winter (anticipated irrigation) and long drought mitigation by “water injection and storage” in the deep soil layers of the trees plantations. This “water injection and storage” is done during the “rainy” years when there is a huge of water (flood water) lost in the salty lakes or seas and oceans.  The “water injection and storage” during 1 month covers the water requirement of the trees for 1 year; the “water injection and storage” during 2 months covers the water requirement of the trees for 2 years, the “water injection and storage” during 3 months covers the water requirement of the trees for 3 years.          Since 2014 a Tunisian SME, CHAHTECH (www.chahtech.com) is manufacturing and distributing worldwide both technologies. This company is willing to cooperate with private companies or with governments to shares both technologies. As CEO of Chahtech I propose my collaboration with California State administration to mitigate long droughts and to save irrigation water. For any contact this is my email: bchahbani@chahtech.com

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Tunisia is a small country in north of Africa. It is the ancient Carthage Empire.  In this country, more than 3/4 of the land is arid (getting less than 300mm rainfall/year). In this water scarcity climate conditions, Tunisia has developed the largest number of olive trees: more than 70 millions olive trees. The majority of the olive trees are not irrigated, getting only rainfall water (rain fed or dry farming system). This big number of trees makes Tunisia one of the main worldwide producers of olive oil with Italy, Greece and Spain. In 2015 Tunisia was the first exporter of olive oil in the world.

       With the climate change, since several decades we are observing more and more long droughts (1 till 4 years completely dry) similar to California situation the last 4 years. During The long droughts, there is no rains which can feed, by infiltration, the water reserves in the soil of the dry farming olive oil trees. This induces negative impacts on growth (most of the leaves and thin branches are completely dry, in some conditions the trees are completely dry), yield (no yield).  The negative impacts of long droughts induce also important reduction of olive oil production and export.  

      In 1983, Arid Region Institute has initiated a research program focused on finding solutions for sustainable water resources management in the arid regions of Tunisia, to make the 70 millions of olive trees alive and producing regularly within the conditions of climate change.   After about 30 years of field research, 2 new technologies have been developed and tested: “the draining floater” and the “buried diffusers”. The first allows to “pump” and distribute, down stream, the water of dams (small, medium and big size) using the gravity and siphon principle. The second allows to irrigate with 70% less water than drip irrigation to get the same or higher yield (vegetables or trees). The buried diffuser allows also:  to deliver only one irrigation per year in winter (anticipated irrigation) and long drought mitigation by “water injection and storage” in the deep soil layers of the trees plantations. This “water injection and storage” is done during the “rainy” years when there is a huge of water (flood water) lost in the salty lakes or seas and oceans.  The “water injection and storage” during 1 month covers the water requirement of the trees for 1 year; the “water injection and storage” during 2 months covers the water requirement of the trees for 2 years, the “water injection and storage” during 3 months covers the water requirement of the trees for 3 years.

         Since 2014 a Tunisian SME, CHAHTECH (www.chahtech.com) is manufacturing and distributing worldwide both technologies. This company is willing to cooperate with private companies or with governments to shares both technologies. As CEO of Chahtech I propose my collaboration with California State administration to mitigate long droughts and to save irrigation water. For any contact this is my email: bchahbani@chahtech.com