On Wednesday, 4 February 2026, the International Centre for Promotion of Enterprises (ICPE) convened a partner coordination meeting under its InBuCo Programme to discuss the development project Improvement of Irrigation Water Quality in Algeria. The meeting was held as an exploratory, non-binding discussion aimed at aligning scientific, technological, and implementation partners around a potential pilot initiative.
The meeting brought together representatives of the National Institute of Biology (NIB), the Algerian National Institute for Agronomic Research (INRAA), technology provider Waboost, local technology partner Hunt ECO Concept, the Association des Femmes Algériennes Chefs d’Entreprises (SEVE), JT Business Development, and ICPE. Participating organisations presented their respective expertise, institutional mandates, and potential roles within the proposed project structure.
The development project concept addresses the growing challenge of saline and brackish groundwater in Algerian agriculture, particularly in regions where water quality has become a more limiting factor than water availability. The proposed approach focuses on adapting agricultural systems to work productively with saline water, rather than removing salt through energy-intensive or chemically dependent processes. Central to the concept is the use of nanobubble-conditioned irrigation to improve soil–root–water interactions and support viable crop production under saline conditions.
During the meeting, participants reviewed the strategic context, existing experimental evidence, and the proposed pilot site in Relizane, as well as the envisaged monitoring, validation, and food safety protocols. Discussions also covered governance arrangements, institutional responsibilities, and mechanisms for knowledge transfer and local capacity building, including the involvement of women entrepreneurs through SEVE.
The pilot phase is conceived as a learning and validation exercise, designed to generate agronomic, environmental, and operational evidence. Subject to successful validation and scientific assessment, the project foresees the possibility of progressively extending the approach to other regions facing comparable water quality constraints, following an evidence-based and demand-driven pathway.
As a next step, interested partners were invited to submit a non-binding Letter of Interest to support further project structuring and funding discussions. In this context, ICPE also invites other interested stakeholders, institutions, and potential partners with relevant expertise or implementation capacity to express their interest in participating in the further development of the initiative by contacting ICPE. The meeting marked an important step in the development of a collaborative initiative combining scientific validation, innovative technology, and local implementation capacity in support of sustainable agriculture and water resource management in Algeria.