Egypt’s Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Hani Sweilam met with experts of modern irrigation and drainage from the World Bank Group on Sunday to discuss coordination between the two parties.
Cooperation between the two sides includes the expansion of reliance on modern irrigation studies in Egypt.
Sweilam pointed out that Egypt is one of the most affected countries by water scarcity and therefore the Egyptian state is exerting great efforts based on scientific rules to confront the water challenges resulting from limited water resources and the negative effects of climate change.
For this purpose, Egypt is expanding the implementation of many major projects in the field of reusing agricultural drainage with the aim of implementing agricultural expansion projects to achieve food security and confront desertification.
The projects in question include the Bahr Al-Baqar, Al-Hamam, and Al-Muhsama projects, along with projects to replace and rehabilitate water facilities, and provide protection from floods and to coasts.
The minister further explained that a phased review of modern irrigation in Egypt is currently being conducted and this file is studied in an integrated manner, including the impact on the rate of charging the groundwater tank and the amounts of agricultural drainage that enters the water system at other sites.
During the meeting, the two parties also discussed the various alternatives used globally in the field of modern irrigation systems and the possibility of using these systems while taking into account all the water, environmental, economic, social, and other dimensions.
Moreover, they tackled implementing experimental techniques in different regions.
Furthermore, Sweilam and the WB delegate emphasised the role of modern irrigation systems in reducing the use of fertilisers and labour and increasing crop productivity, stressing the importance of awareness campaigns carried out by the ministry to encourage farmers to rationalise water use.
Additionally, the meeting witnessed a review for the outcomes of the World Bank mission’s visit last March, which included field visits to the lands of some farmers who switched from flood irrigation to modern irrigation in the governorates of Qaliubiya and Beni Suef.
