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Analysis of the agricultural situation in Azraq Basin
German-Jordanian Programme “Management of Water Resources”
I – Azraq Basin: heterogeneity
of the physical, hydrological
and human characteristics
1.1. General Presentation of
Azraq Basin
Azraq basin covers an area of
about 12700 km 2 (15% of Jordan
superficies) 5 . Azraq basin is a
desert, mostly flat to hilly area
east of the Highlands. “Highlands”
is used in this study to describe the
agriculture part of Jordan located
on the Eastern Plateau, as opposed
to the Jordan Valley. The lowest
point of the basin is located at
the Azraq depression (Qa’a) with
an elevation of about 500 m above Figure 1: Precipitation in Azraq basin
sea level. The Qa’a is formed as
(long term Isohyetal lines, average on 50 years)
a single basin and receives water
and silt drained by wadis, or water
1.2. Variability of agro climatic
ways, from the surrounding region.
This elevation increases to about conditions within
900 m in the southern part of the a semi desertic region
basin. The highest point in Jordan is Climate in Azraq basin is
located at Jabal El-Rimah area with characterised by hot and dry
an elevation of about 1234 m 6 . summers, and fairly wet and mostly
It is called Al-Badia Asharqiya cold winters.
(Eastern desert) and used to be the
domain of transhumant and semi
The mean annual rainfall in the basin
settling herders. However, in the
ranges from 100 - 150 mm in the
west and north, 50 – 100 mm in the
last two decades, a large area was
middle of the Basin and to less than
cultivated under irrigation, using
50 mm in the south and east
groundwater.
7 . There
is no permanent surface water in
Al-Azraq basin. Water resources are
The Badia region is characterised scarce, fluctuating and uneven both
by a very sparse vegetative cover. spatially and temporally, with high
According to MWI Land-Use inter- and intra- annual variations of
Classification map (1994), 99% of precipitation.
land is urban and bare rock, 0.5% is The effect of climate change, as
natural vegetation, 0.3% is irrigated mentioned by farmers during some
land and 0.03% is rain-fed. interviews, might be a reason for
5 Wolter, 2009.
6 Hydrogeological and Hydrological Investigation for Azraq Basin – NE Jordan, Ibraheem Hamdan, GTZ, 2010.
7 Source MWI, 2009.