Department of Agriculture and Landscaping

Annual Work Plan

The Department of Agriculture and Landscaping implements the annual work plan according to the availabilityof the financial, water and manpower resources to accomplish the various agricultural works by hiring daily wage workers in addition to the staff of the Department of Agriculture.

The department includes three divisions: the Agricultural Business Division, the Water Resources Division, and the Maintenance and Operation of Water Stations and Wells Division. It works to preserve the existing agricultural project within the work mechanisms used in the department and the programs prepared for that.

Agricultural Business Division

This division provides agricultural services and takes care of plants and trees through a number of agricultural operations such as (weeding, boring, plowing, fertilizing, and preventive spraying operations, and so on). A total of half a million trees were planted, including (26) thousand olive trees. Several indoor gardens were also established for the university edifices and taken care of in terms of landscaping, irrigating, cultivating, controlling agricultural pests and insects by spraying them with insecticides and fungicides, and controlling harmful weeds. Further, an agricultural nursery will be equipped to plant annual plants as well as indoor and outdoor ornamental plants. The Department of Agriculture participates with the local community through cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture to develop and improve the agricultural project at the university.

Seasonal Tasks

• Boring around olive trees after harvesting, which numbered 26,000 trees.
• Adding organic fertilizers to the olive trees after harvesting the olives and after boring during the forty-day winter.
• Spraying weeds with herbicide in indoor areas that cannot be plowed during the period from January to March.
• Spraying olive trees with a preventive insecticide in March.
• Spraying the grape trees in the garden of the Jaafar building with fungicide during March.
• Trimming hedges and removing weeds in gardens and around buildings during the period from May to November.
• Respraying olive trees with insecticide in June.
• Preparing the specifications and conditions for renting olive fruits, so that the rental of olive fruits is duly announced.
• Harvesting olives during the period from November to January.
• Pruning olive trees after the harvest process, and there are 26,000 trees, until December.
• Removing dust and impurities from rainwater streams in canals and culverts before winter.
• Plowing fire lines in the areas where there are dry weeds to avoid the occurrence of fires during the month of May.
• Determine the needs and materials of fertilizers, pesticides, tools and agricultural equipment in order to issue a purchase order according to the regulations during the months of January and February.
• Pruning grape trees in the inner garden of the Jaafar building in February.
• Preparing specifications and conditions for renting weed and pruning residues at the university to be duly announced.

Daily Tasks

• Boring and weeding trees in the interior plot, around buildings and inside gardens.
• Irrigation of trees and plants in the central island and roadsides that are not covered by the irrigation network using the tank.
• Irrigation of crops, indoor gardens and around buildings.
• Irrigation of the Bermudagrass in front of the Presidency and taking care of it (grass cutting).
• Hedge trimming and landscaping.
• Removing agricultural waste (weeds and pruning residues).
• Tilling indoor gardens and around buildings.

Water Supplies Division

The Drinking Water Station provides the university with its daily water needs by storing the quantities of water received from the Water Authority in ground tanks. The purification plant, through the sewage network, serves all university buildings by treating waste water and reusing it in irrigating trees. Rainwater is also optimally utilized and not wasted, throughprojects which were established to collect it at the lowest cost to benefit from it in irrigating trees. Earthen ponds located on canals to take advantage of surface runoff. The university also has a drip irrigation network.

• Irrigation of olive and forest trees, estimated at 36 thousand trees, during the weekly cycle.
• Formation of committees whose task is to estimate the olives in the agricultural plots so that an economic feasibility can be made before the olives are rented.
• Formation of committees to follow up on the harvesting of olives.
• Fertilizing olive trees through the fertilizer attached to the irrigation network during the month of June.
• Rehabilitation of the irrigation network after harvesting and plowing.
• Carrying out the necessary and periodic maintenance of the irrigation network.
• Following up the cleaning of the water supply to the water harvesting pond, which is located near Manaseer station.
• Determining the needs of materials and supplies necessary for the maintenance of the irrigation network, so that a purchase order can be duly issued during the months of January and February.

Purification Plant Tasks

• Wastewater treatment from university facilities.
• Following up the chlorination of the purification plant with the Environment and Water Research Center to take and examine samples.
• Following up with the Stations and Wells Maintenance and Operation Division to repair electrical and mechanical faults to maintain work continuity.
• Operating irrigation pumps to irrigate trees.
• Supplying the water harvesting pool from the water from the artesian wells to irrigate the trees.

Drinking Water StationTasks

• Providing the university facilities with water.
• Following up supplying the tanks of the drinking water station with water from the Water Authority line.
• Documenting the amount of water consumed daily.

The Division of Maintenance and Operation of Water Stations and Wells

This division handles the maintenance of electrical and mechanical faults in the Purification Plant, the Drinking Water Station, and artesian wells. It also conducts necessary studies as well as redevelops and rehabilitates wells.

• maintenance of electrical and mechanical faults in the Purification Plant, the Drinking Water Station, and artesian wells.
• Determining the needs of materials and supplies necessary for the maintenance of maintenance of electrical and mechanical faults, so that a purchase order can be duly issued during the months of January and February.
• Following up the work of electrical and mechanical devices and equipmentat the Purification Plant, the Drinking Water Station, and artesian wells.

The Department of Agriculture and Landscaping seeks to improve the agricultural project in several areas, including:

• Cooperating and networking with the Ministry of Agriculture to dig dirt ponds for water harvesting at the university to be used for irrigation of olive and forest trees.
• Establishing an agricultural nursery to grow indoor and outdoor ornamental plants.
• Preparing and participating in events and initiatives held within the university.
• Cooperating and networking with the Ministry of Agriculture by donating olive and forest trees to the university.
• Cooperating and networking with the Agricultural Research Center to follow up on projects, experiments, and landscaping at the university within the framework of the activities that the university intends to hold to plant forest and fruit trees and agricultural projects that contribute to increasing vegetation cover and green space and improving the agricultural and water situation at the university.
• Participating in the committees formed by the university presidency regarding all agricultural works.
• Preparing the draft annual budget for the Department of Agriculture and Landscaping in November.
• All new works are to improve agricultural reality.