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Sustainable Systems for Food and Bio-energy Production with Water-saving Irrigation in the Egyptian Nile Basin

Environment / Energy (Global-scale environmental issues)

Arab Republic of Egypt

Terminated

Sustainable Systems for Food and Bio-energy Production with Water-saving Irrigation in the Egyptian Nile Basin

Sustainable Farming: Using Limited Water Resources to Resolve Food Issues

Principal Investigator

- Prof. Emeritus
  SATOH Masayoshi
  Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba

ODA Recipient Country

Arab Republic of Egypt

Research Institutions in Japan

University of Tsukuba / Tottori University

Research Institutions in Counterpart Country

Cairo University (CU)

Adoption fiscal year

FY 2008

Research Period

5 Years

Overview of the Research Project

Water conservation as a strategy for creating new water resources to turn deserts into farmland
The arid country of Egypt is totally dependent on the Nile River, and is experiencing a continuous rise in population. Consequently, food production and job creation are pressing issues. But the capacity of food production in the Nile Delta, the traditional major agricultural region, is limited, and the available water resources in the Nile River have already reached their limit. Therefore the goal of this project is to rationalize water use in existing farms in the Delta region in order to send water to the surrounding desert regions, enabling farmland development and thereby increasing food production. Efficient and sustainable methods of using irrigation water and farmland will be constructed for this purpose.

Examining water and farming in the Nile Delta to work out the proper approach for farming communities
The main crops are grown using a range of irrigation methods, and studied from the three perspectives of crop production, soil, and meteorology, investigating the response of the crops, water consumption, yield, and the influence of salt damage. The water management behavior of farmers, hydrodynamics, and other factors are also observed and analyzed. The aim is to establish models for effective and sustainable agriculture and for water management.

Photo gallery

The Nile delta plain has been a food producing center since ancient times.

Water brought from the Nile is ultimately used to irrigate farmland by means of pumps. In Egypt, where there is little or no rainfall, this is the only water source that farmers can rely on.