After four years of drought, Iraqi farmer Mohammed Sami was about to abandon his father’s parched land, but then a water-saving irrigation system revived his crops and his hopes.
He is among hundreds of farmers in the country battered by heatwaves, scarce rain and depleted rivers to benefit from new water management systems brought by the UN World Food Programme.
The systems use automated sprinklers and drip irrigation to ensure scarce water is used in the most efficient way and is not lost as run-off or evaporated under the blazing sun.