Informations et ressources scientifiques
sur le développement des zones arides et semi-arides

Long-term Europe-Africa Research and Innovation Partnership for Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture

Titre : SECUREFOOD2050 : Improving resilience and food security in 2050 climate through soilless precise agricultural techniques and irrigation with wastewater properly treated by innovative technologies to ensure food safety

Pays/Région : Italy ; Algeria ; Belgium ; Egypt ; Morocco

Date : Start date 2021-09-01 End date 2024-08-31

Identifiant : 308-SECUREFOOD2050
Type de projet : Development and innovation oriented (research) project

Contexte
Agriculture is already and will be still more affected by climate change, which is likely to cause a reduction in natural resources (in particular freshwater and fertile soil), as well as significant changes in plant growth conditions. The low availability of water for irrigation and fertile soil for cultivation are obstacles for achieving a strong resilience of food systems.

Objectif
SECUREFOOD2050 aims at mitigating the impact of climate changes by using innovative technologies for : * Increasing the availability of water suitable for irrigation * Reducing water use and demand * Reducing the dependence on fertile land in countries predominantly characterized by sandy soils * Increasing the willingness of farmers to use treated wastewater (TWW) for irrigation and of consumers to buy thea gricultural products obtained by irrigation with TWW.

Présentation
The technical solutions aim at the replacement of freshwater with TWWs obtained by using an innovative concept of constructed wetlands and bioaugmented septic tanks. The project will investigate aeroponics and biochar assisted cultivation systems, as innovative soilless agricultural techniques for crop (e.g.rocket and strawberry) production, in which TWWs will be adopted for irrigation. Experiments will be carried out undercurrent 2050 worst climatic scenario. The project will monitor the safety and quality of the food products and will take care of the social aspects concerning consumer preferences and acceptability, as well as farmer’s possible reluctances to using TWW for irrigation. The results will be integrated with data referred to materials and resources used with the various cultivation techniques applied in the different climatic-environmental scenarios, to perform a life-cycle assessment of the processes adopted for food production.

Coordinateur : University of Florence
Partenaires : Abderrahmane Mira University - Bejaia University of Liege National Research Centre (NRC) Cadi Ayyad University University of Turin

Financement principal : ERA-Net Cofund (FOSC)
Budget : 556 000 EUR

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