Cairo, Egypt - A mission of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) visited Egypt to follow the implementation of the activities of the regional project –“Implementation of the 2030 Agenda on Water Efficiency / Productivity and Water Sustainability in Near East and North Africa Countries (WEPS-NENA)”. In the Field, the members of the mission were able to see the interest and impact of the work accomplished in favor of the farmers and of all the actors involved in this project.

Upon their arrival in Egypt, the mission started a meeting in FAO’s regional office that presented the main highlights of the project in the eight implementing countries: Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia and Palestine. The FAO project team then accompanied the SIDA delegation to Al-Minya governorate – one of the main project sites in Egypt. The delegation visited three project sites in Al-Minya, namely (i) a women farmers’ field school (FFS) with a women farmers’ business schools (FBS), (ii) a men FFS and (iii) a demonstration of a velocity profile measurement in a site located downstream of Seree Canal, in support of water accounting activities in Al-Minya.

The objective of both FFS is to introduce “good agricultural practices” with regards to crop and water management. The women FFS targeted the cultivation of wheat, while the men FFS targeted the cultivation of sugar cane. Women enrolled in the FBS are mainly engaged in poultry rearing activities. The training and regular monitoring is provided by extensionists from the Ministry of Agriculture with the support of facilitators from a local NGO (Life Vision) and under the overall supervision of the FAO field officer.

A common agricultural practice disseminated in both FFS (wheat and sugar cane) is the cultivation on raise beds in an attempt to reduce water consumption. A specific practice adopted in the sugar cane field is the reduction of the planting density, in order to increase the tillering process. Another important aspect covered by the FFS is the identification of pests, in order to discriminate between beneficial and harmful insects. Women participating in the FBS mainly benefitted from entrepreneurial and market-oriented trainings, in order to increase the profitability of their farm enterprises.

The wheat field planted in December 2021 had not been harvested at the time of the visit, but women were confident that the yield would be higher than the average. The sugar cane field had already been harvested, as it had been planted in May 2021 and harvested in March 2022: farmers reported an increase in revenue by 40% compared to the average and a decrease of the water consumption ranging between 25 to 40% according to the interviewees.

Discussions were held with two staff members from the local irrigation department of the Ministry of Water. The focus of the discussions was mainly the equipment and technical support provided by the WEPS-NENA project to improve the monitoring of surface water levels in the governorate and support the water accounting exercises implemented in the area in 2020.

The SIDA and FAO delegation consisted of Mr Magnus Andre and Mr Hamzeh Yasin from the SIDA regional head office in Amman, Amira Khalil, Regional Communication Officer at the Swedish Embassy in Cairo, Jean-Marc Faures, FAO’s Regional Programme Leader for the NENA region, Naglaa ElBendary, Project Manager for Water Productivity Improvement at FAO Egypt, Fahide Si Tahar, FAO’s Land and Water Officer in the NENA region and Mariam Ghamrawy, Stakeholder Engagement and Outreach specialist in FAO’s NENA office.

The project "Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for water efficiency/productivity and water sustainability in NENA countries" funded by SIDA comes within the framework of the FAO Regional Water Scarcity Initiative, which aims to support Egypt and a number of countries in the Middle East and North Africa to develop strategic plans for water resources management. The project aims to bring together three main areas, which are to establish a robust water accounting system that provides information on the status of water resources and their uses; enhancing knowledge of water efficiency, productivity status and opportunity for improvement in diverse agricultural systems; and to ensure a higher return per drop of water by 2030.