Best Irrigation Practices Designed for Pesticides Use to Reduce Environmental Impact on Groundwater Resource in the Tunisian Context

Abstract

The irrigated areas in Tunisia were esteemed in 2010 to over 420 thousand hectares and represents 8% of farmland, this little area providing 35% of the total crop production. This situation makes it exert enormous pressure on the irrigated sector that his intensification is very associated to increased inputs including especially pesticides. However, the irrational use and abuse of pesticides associated with an inadequate irrigation system management are a great threat of contamination to groundwater resources and constitute one of the greatest challenges facing Tunisian government today. According to FAO, 2013, the adoption of the concept of best practices can meet this challenge. These best practices are not only a practice that are best, but a practices that have been proven to work well and produce good results, and are therefore recommended as a model. This paper aims to analyze in a framework of global environmental approach, the role of the best irrigation practices (BIPs) to reduce environmental impact on groundwater resource. Finally, it was proposed a set of best irrigation practices completed by the technical recommendations for limiting the environmental impact of pesticide in groundwater resource.