38
Table 4. –PRIMA Pillar 3: objectives, needs and actions
PRIMA Operational
objectives
Pillar 3
priority
Why it’s strikingly
needed
What PRIMA is going to
address?
What kind of actions
are expected by
PRIMA to address
these needs
3 To innovate in the
Mediterranean food
products based on
Mediterranean diet
heritage and to
enhance the links
between nutrition
and health
***
In the
Mediterranean area
the prevalence of
obesity and its
associated
metabolic diseases
have increased
Sustainability and
accessibility of
Mediterranean diet
requires crucial
design based on low
environmental
impacts
Improving food systems
in order to ensure food
security and healthy
food
production/consumption
Improving dietary
diversity and food
quality in a sustainable
way
Research projects
Innovation
projects
SME partnership
Capacity building
and training
Dissemination
and outreach
4 To find context-
adapted solutions
to increase food and
water chain
efficiency, and
reduce losses and
wastes
***
There are many
sources of
waste or losses that
are discarded or
unable to be used
along
the food and
water chain and
there is a great
opportunity and an
urgent need for
research to find
solutions to reduce
food and water
losses
Improving efficacy and
efficiency of processing
and storage
to ensure
food safety and security
Reducing waste
production and losses
Enhancing food export
by optimizing food
logistics
Research projects
Innovation
projects
Prototype
development
Network of
infrastructure
SME partnership
Capacity building
and training
Dissemination
and outreach
6 To conceive and
implement
innovative, quality
oriented models in
agro-business as
potential sources of
new jobs and
economic growth
***
The last decades
have witnessed a
crisis of traditional
agricultural
paradigms, and now
innovation of
products and
services offered by
companies in the
sector is required
Increasing sustainability,
competitiveness and
market potential of the
actors working across
entire
value chain
Increasing the
competitiveness of
Mediterranean food
production
Research projects
Innovation
projects
SME partnership
Capacity building
and training
Dissemination
and outreach
PRIMA prioritisation of targets, objectives and activities
As seen in Table 2, the PRIMA Initiative will develop three interconnected main pillars which are underpinned
by specific operational objectives.
PRIMA will deliver a stepwise strategy in which objectives at higher priority within each pillar will be
addressed first, in order to deepen existing knowledge gaps (e.g. existing knowledge gaps on groundwater
processes, dynamics and yields) while delivering practical results for the major end users of the food and
water systems in the Euro-Mediterranean area. Once the above-mentioned activities are launched, lower-
priority initiatives will be embarked upon. In parallel, activities related to knowledge and technology transfer,
outreach, and user and stakeholder engagement will be in place to broaden the scope of the PRIMA initiative
.
39
PRIMA Pillar 1: Sustainable management of water for arid and semi-arid
Med areas - prioritisation
of targets, objectives and activities
The Mediterranean is one of the regions in the world with the scarcest water. According to ‘Plan Bleu’, 180
million persons are considered as “water poor” since they rely on less than 1000 m
3
/capita/year while the
U.N. alert threshold is 1700 m
3
/capita/year. Agriculture remains, by far, the largest water-consuming sector
in the Mediterranean (70% of the total water consumed) but also the major source of income and
employment for rural dwellers (AQUASTAT FAO 2015)
3
. Many countries in the Mediterranean are over-
exploiting and intensively using their scarce water resources resulting in a fall in water table and river levels,
and emptying of falls, reservoirs and wetlands. These countries are, therefore, headed towards a serious
national water crisis. Libya, for example,ggg extracts 6 times more than its available renewable water
resources largely as ground water. Egypt, Israel, Malta, Jordan and Syria extract more than their total
renewable water resources, which raises serious environmental concerns and issues regarding water
resources sustainability.
Water is crucial for Mediterranean agriculture as it ensures higher and stable productivity as well as
production diversity; it has a major role in securing food production and reducing poverty in the Region. The
demand for water is continuously increasing in response to population growth. The situation is aggravated
by the increasing frequency of droughts, a consequence largely attributable to climate change. Therefore,
the competition for water among different sectors of society (agriculture, urban and industry) will continue
to grow, particularly during summer periods when supply is scarce and demand is high.
Finding solutions to cope with increasing water demand and decreasing water availability is an urgent and
fundamental priority for the Mediterranean arid and semi-arid areas. In these areas, achieving sustainable
management of water requires a better understanding and interventions related to biophysical processes as
well as social and technical processes.
1.
The first priority is a
better understanding of water resources availability, especially for
catchments and aquifers of medium or small size, which is the most common scenario. The
ephemeral flow of rivers, the non-linear relationship between rainfall and runoff, the
importance of extreme events, are major characteristics of surface water resources. This
makes river-flow extremely variable in time and space, difficult to exploit in natural
conditions, and often a threat for the riparian population. Quality issues (chemical and
biological) are even more complex and less surveyed. Apart from a very small number of
large rivers, aquifers are the most reliable source of water in the region, and are therefore
essential for water supplying people and farming. However
contamination, seawater
intrusion and over-exploitation of groundwater are common problems in the
Mediterranean. Understanding the complexity of the system under present and future
climatic and socio-economic conditions is of crucial importance for ensuring the long-term
availability of water resources and for avoiding irreversible damages on the environment
and the agriculture systems depending on land and water.
2.
Irrigated agriculture, which uses 70% of water resources, today provides more than 50% of the food
produced in the Mediterranean basin, even though it only takes up 15% of the land devoted to
agriculture. Despite the development of techniques, models and decision support systems to
promote a more efficient use of irrigation water, their actual use and implementation by farmers is
rather limited. The successful
adoption of new irrigation strategies and technologies and
their
3
FAO 2015.AquaStat. http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/main/index.stm