ACTIVITY TITLE
Aquifer storage and recovery techniques for sustainable banana production in the Magdalena region, Colombia
Reported by
Netherlands Enterprise Agency NL-KVK-27378529 Government
ACTIVITY SCOPE COLLABORATION TYPE AID TYPE FINANCE TYPE FLOW TYPE TIED STATUS HIERARCHY
Bilateral, triangular co-operation 8
Other technical assistance D02
Standard grant 110 Private Development Finance 30 Untied 2
Planned start date 2020-12-18
Planned end date 2021-12-31
Actual start date 2020-12-18
Actual end date 2022-02-04
activity status: Finalisation
Physical activity is complete or the final disbursement has been made, but the activity remains open pending financial sign off or M&E
WHO'S INVOLVED ( 3 )
PARTICIPATING ORG REFERENCE ROLE TYPE
Netherlands Enterprise Agency
Funding Government
Netherlands Enterprise Agency
Accountable Government
Stichting Deltares
Implementing Private Sector in Provider Country
General
The basins of Río Frío and Río Sevilla of the Magdalena region, Colombia, are home of more than 10,000 ha of banana plantations. Water supply to these plantations is important and at the same time challenging, as the availability of fresh water for irrigation in the dry season is limited, water and soils are threatened by salinization, and because the banana production areas are located between two systems of great ecological and cultural importance (the Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta and the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. The objective of this project is to explore alternative water management techniques with a focus on Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR), to help improve water resource management in the Río Frío and Río Sevilla watersheds, and to advance sustainable banana production in the area. The idea behind ASR is to store water in the subsurface in the wet season when there is an excess, and use it in the dry season, when water is most needed. The project included a feasibility study of ASR in the banana growing areas of the basins consisting of an indicative cost-benefit analysis to explore the potential of ASR systems, the identification of the most appropriate ASR techniques and the potential areas for their implementation, and the description of the limiting factors that may arise. Several areas in the river basins were found to be suitable for the implementation of ASR systems and particularly of infiltration wells. The main aim of the infiltration wells would be to create an area in the subsurface with higher groundwater quality than the current one, so that banana yields could increase in the dry seasons when mostly groundwater is used for irrigation. This would have in return a positive effect in the river discharges, as less surface fresh water would be used in the dry season. The water balance results show that in the wet season, there is enough water in the basins for infiltration and that this would not affect ecological flows. The cost-benefit analysis showed a positive benefit of implementing ASR infiltration wells in the studied plots, and a positive return of investment. The recommendations for follow up include a water quality study and the installation of an ASR pilot in one of the plots, to locally demonstrate the benefits of these systems. The introduction and upscaling of ASR techniques will contribute to anticipating possible changes of international certification standards including new requirements on good water practices for bananas production, maintaining export markets and, therefore, guaranteeing in turn a more stable and fair income.
recipient country ( 1 )
ColombiaCO
100
LOCATION ( 1 )
NAME DESCRIPTION POSITION CLASS REACH EXACTNESS
REF CO
6.2691012 -74.5353699
sector ( 2 )
OECD DAC CRS 5 digit1( 1 )
The sector reported corresponds to an OECD DAC CRS 5-digit purpose code http://reference.iatistandard.org/codelists/Sector/
Agricultural development31120
100
GLOSSARY
Agricultural developmentIntegrated projects; farm development.
SDG Goal7( 1 )
A value from the top-level list of UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) (e.g. ‘1’) http://reference.iatistandard.org/codelists/unsdg-goals
6
1
Financial Overview
Incoming Funds ( 1 )
Outgoing Commitment ( 1 )
Disbursement ( 5 )
Budget ( 1 )
Incoming Funds
Outgoing Commitment
Disbursement
Budget
Budget ( 1 )
START END TYPE STATUS VALUE
2020-12-18 2021-12-31 Original Committed 134,909.66
EUR
Budget
Transactions ( 7 )
Incoming Funds ( 1 )
DATE DESCRIPTION PROVIDER RECEIVER VALUE
2020-12-18
134,909.66
EUR
Incoming Funds
Outgoing Commitment ( 1 )
DATE DESCRIPTION PROVIDER RECEIVER VALUE
2020-12-18
Stichting Deltares
Other
134,909.66
EUR
Outgoing Commitment
Disbursement ( 5 )
DATE DESCRIPTION PROVIDER RECEIVER VALUE
2021-06-02
Stichting Deltares
Other
31,153.91
EUR
2021-08-13
Stichting Deltares
Other
30,438.77
EUR
2021-11-25
Stichting Deltares
Other
25,825.65
EUR
2021-12-01
Stichting Deltares
Other
34,000.36
EUR
2022-02-04
Stichting Deltares
Other
13,490.97
EUR
Disbursement