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Undoubtedly, the continuation of the dry process of Urmia Lake will cause many damages to the health of the inhabitants of the basin and their livelihoods, the destruction of the ecosystem and the agricultural sector of the basin (destruction of lands and gardens). Given the importance of agriculture and the allocation of most of the country's water to this sector, it is necessary to adopt strategies to optimally manage water consumption and increase water productivity in agricultural production. An educational - extensional project has performed since crop year 2017-2018 with the aim of transferring new agricultural knowledge to the region farmers in order to reduce water consumption and increase water productivity of crops and horticultural products including wheat, rapeseed, tomatoes, potatoes, almonds, walnut and tomato in the eastern areas of Urmia Lake. In this project, it has been tried to show the appropriate farming techniques that are effective in improving plant growth, reducing water consumption and increasing water productivity as model farms so that farmers in the region are practically trained and suitable conditions provided for transferring experiences between them. The biennial results of the project showed that the application of agricultural techniques in irrigated wheat cultivation, depending on the implementation of techniques, soil and water quality conditions and climatic conditions in different regions, increased crop yield by 5 to 24 percent and reduced water withdrawal for irrigation by 20 to 40 percent. In the second year of the project that performed in the villages of five cities of East Azarbaijan province, the average increase in water productivity was 0.37 kgm-3 (55.3%), which indicates of improved irrigation efficiency in wheat production.Keywords: Model sites, Uromia Lake, Water consumption management, Water productivity, Wheat.
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