With water resources management being a top priority topic at Egypt’s COP27, Antón Leis, Director of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), and Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Hani Sewilam, signed a letter of intent for a new project, worth €670,000, to modernise Egypt’s irrigation systems.
“Agriculture represents the heart of Egypt’s economy, as the sector employs 30% of the workforce in rural areas and provides livelihoods for 55% of the population. Recognizing the demand for climate-smart agriculture, we are shifting our priorities in 2023 to focus on promoting modern technologies, and developing farmer’s knowledge, skills and aspirations for a growing industry,” Antón Leis, Director of the AECID, said.
“Egypt is looking forward to building a strong partnership with the Mediterranean countries due to the similar challenges that both countries face in the water sector, and to become a gateway to Africa for technology transfer and capacity building. The Egyptian government has developed a long-term plan to achieve sustainable water management, and we are keen on benefiting from Spain’s experience in modern irrigation and smart irrigation,” said Minister Hani Sewilam.
Water sits at the nexus of many global issues, linking together the web of food, energy, climate, and economic growth challenges. The impact of the global context has also been seen and felt at the very local level, with local Egyptian farmers bearing the heavy cost of soaring prices, water scarcity, and crop losses.
In view of these developments, the AECID recognizes that progress in development cooperation must take into consideration the changing local context to tackle the direct challenges faced by Egyptian cities. This includes strengthening local food systems so that it can become less dependent on imports and more resilient to economic shocks.
To support this, the planned project promotes innovative irrigation practices to help farmers achieve water-use efficiency and increase their production. Boosting food security with climate-smart techniques, the project will support the digitization of irrigation monitoring to help farmers improve their on-farm irrigation scheduling and the use of fertirrigation to maximize production and an efficient use of resources. Technical support for a large-scale irrigation project will also be provided following the results of the pilot projects in the Nile Delta and Upper Egypt.
Embedding the circular economy principles into the project, innovative irrigation practices help achieve the triple bottom line of people, profit and planet by helping farmers gain an economic advantage while also reducing environmental burdens, increasing their production by 40% and their profits by 30%.
