HIBAPRESS – w.m.a. With a cumulative average exceeding 520 mm of rainfall since the beginning of the current agricultural season, the Loukkos plain has received significant water inflows that have contributed to the revitalization of crops, but have also posed challenges for farmers, mainly related to the need to drain excess rainfall to avoid damaging crops.
Indeed, these rainfalls had a positive impact on the start of the current agricultural season in the Loukkos plain, especially the improvement of the vegetation cover and the increase in soil moisture, which is mainly due to the regularity of rainfall and its fall at the appropriate time. It also had a positive and direct effect on the improvement of the water table, the increase in the water capacity of the dams, and the growth of various crops, especially grains, legumes, vegetables, and sugar crops. At the level of the dams for agricultural use and adjacent to the Loukkos plain, their water storage has seen a significant increase compared to last year, as the filling rate for the Wad Al-Makhazin dam reached 100 percent with about 672.8 million cubic meters, and the Dar Khroufa dam recorded a rate of 28 percent with a storage equivalent to 135.8 million cubic meters. These rains brought joy and hope to a number of small farmers in the Loukkos plain, including Al-Bakri Saeed, who has specialized for years in sugar crops in the region, and he says with many words of praise and thanks that the recent heavy rains contributed to supporting the growth of sugar crops, such as beets and sugar cane, in addition to hay crops such as “alfasa”, adding, “We have not seen such rainfall in the past years.” He added that the follow-up of the officials, especially from the Loukkos Regional Agricultural Investment Office, enables the management of the agricultural season well, adding, “I expect this season to be good, as the water table has filled up significantly.” In contrast, the management of excess water in some flat lands in the irrigated area of the plain must be handled with great caution and proactivity to avoid damaging the crops, and thus affecting the quality of the products and also the volume of production. In addition to the irrigation channels managed by the Loukkos Regional Agricultural Investment Office, few know that the plain also has an extensive network for draining excess rainwater to protect the crops spread in the region. The irrigated sector on the right bank of the Loukkos River extends over a total area of 7,000 hectares, equipped with a network of irrigation channels during the dry periods of the year, and also with a network for draining rainwater that operates during the rainy periods. In this regard, the head of the maintenance department at the Loukkos Regional Agricultural Investment Office, Al-Faqiri Mohammed, confirmed that the rainwater drainage network is activated after recording significant rainfall to avoid water accumulation above agricultural lands, highlighting that this irrigated sector is located in a low area, where three valleys meet, which are Wad Loukkos, Wad Al-Makhazin and Wad Arour. He added that, during the past six years, the rainwater drainage network has not been used much due to the scarcity of rain, but during this year, and due to the rainfall that reached 520 mm during a relatively short period, the network was activated to drain excess rainwater, highlighting that the system performs its work in protecting the irrigated plain from floods to the fullest. This network constitutes an integrated system that aims mainly to protect the plain from floods and prevent the return of the water of the surrounding valleys to the agricultural irrigated lands. The network consists of a barrier that protects the area with a total length of 250 km, in addition to a network of pipes with a total length of 2500 km, distributed over agricultural lands to absorb rainwater, and deliver it to industrial waterways with a total length of 250 km, then 3 pumping stations for the collected water and discharging it into the Loukkos River, and thus draining it towards the sea. The farmers of the region hope that the weather conditions will improve soon to enable them to complete the land preparation operations in preparation for the spring crops, especially since the crops need successive periods of rain and sun for ideal plant health that leads to an exceptional harvest at the end of the season.
