an overview analysis on the best irrigation and soil management practices to reduce environmental impact on groundwater resource: a summary of new evidence. ben nouna, b., bahrouni, h., rezig, m., and ben abdallah, m.a. (tunisia)

Pesticides used against bioagressors have an important role in increasing agricultural productivity in the last 50 years, despite diminishing crop land acreage. In fact, pesticides have now become an integral part to protect agricultural productions. It has been estimated that globally nearly $38 billion are spent on pesticides each year. In this context, the groundwater resource protection is a compromise factor for a sustainable use of pesticides and will constitute one of the greatest challenges facing Tunisian’s government today. Two main strategies could be considered, (i) to optimize the use of pesticides by adopting the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach and (ii) to reduce the environmental impact by using the Best Irrigation Practices (BIP) and the Best Soil Management Practices (BSMP). However, in the last approach, the reduction of pesticide leaching to groundwater can reach 50% when BMP and BSMP are considered. The main purpose of this paper is to review the new evidence concerning the groundwater environmental protection considering BSMP and BIP concepts as two essential components to strengthen the IPM concept. For this, a synthesis of research works from national and international experiences is undertaken. The results of these experiences are described and analysed according to their relevance on BIP and BSMP to reduce environmental impact of pesticides upon groundwater.