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SmaCuMed

SmaCuMed “Smart irrigation cube for sustainable agriculture in the Mediterranean region” is a joint research project from the European Union’s EU-Prima initiative – A joint program focused on the development and application of solutions for food systems and water resources in the Mediterranean basin.


6 partners from North-African and European countries aim at developing an integrated concept in the field of smart-irrigation by providing a sustainable, innovative, cost-effective and robust solution for groundwater desalination for agriculture, which represents an important economic sector for the future of the Mediterranean region.

Discover the SmaCuMed-Project

The EU-PRIMA project SmaCuMed follows an integrated approach by providing a sustainable and innovative solution for groundwater desalination in the field of smart irrigation.

The Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area (PRIMA) will devise new R&I approaches to improve water availability and sustainable agriculture production in a region heavily distressed by climate change, urbanization and population growth.


The innovative core of SmaCuMed is to develop, test and integrate a novel desalination technology membrane capacitive deionization (MCDI) with low-pressure reverse osmosis (LPRO) in an all-in-one smart irrigation cube system. This allows the energy-autonomous treatment of brackish groundwater while supplying smart-sensor controlled irrigation in remote agricultural Mediterranean regions using the example of date palms, olives and argan trees.

The technological development and demonstration at pilot-scale will be combined with participative measures aimed at capacity building and awareness-raising of local stakeholders and populations. The SmaCuMed pilot in Morocco will be kept running by project partners in Morocco.