Crop Diversification, a Challenge for Wastewater Treatment and Reuse in Tunisia: A Pilot Case Study

Tunisia is committed to working toward the integration of the 2030 sustainable development goals (SDGs) into its development plans and to support their achievement. A major challenge for which SDG6 has set ambitious targets directly concerns the “water reuse”. In this context, a Tunisian NGO (GDA Sidi Amor) initiated a platform five years ago to promote the reuse of “treated” wastewater in agriculture, to support local farmers in the water management and demonstrate best practices. This project initially proposed the implementation of tertiary treatment wetlands to meet the quality requirements for water reuse. The present study aims, first, to investigate the potential of diversifying cropping patterns with secondary (tertiary) reclaimed water through participatory field trials (experimental plots). The first experiences initially focused on the possibility to introduce new crops with high added values such as cotton and geranium rosat. Although the first tests on cotton were successful, with satisfactory yield and lint quality, farmers were reluctant to grow it. However, the private sector was more interested and immediately undertook incremental field experiments with a view to scaling up. The second phase relating to aromatic and floral plantations was less successful in terms of up-scaling opportunities, yet the production yield and the quality of geranium essential oils were promising. Overall, farmers were much more interested in this crop than cotton. Although the preliminary outcomes are mitigated, building youth advocacy throughout this project recently motivated the buy-in of some local farmers to plan productive experimental plots.