The amount of irrigation water used for agriculture reached 36.75bn cubic metres in 2015, compared to 38.26bn cubic metres in 2014, a decrease of 3.9%.
The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) issued its annual bulletin on Irrigation and Water Resource statistics in 2015 on Tuesday, showing a decreased amount of irrigation water for agriculture due to an increase in cultivated areas.
The report noted that the amount of water used in irrigation canals reached 41.23bn cubic metres in 2015, versus 43.58bn cubic metres in 2014, a decrease of 5.4%.
It added that the amount of water used for irrigation in Aswan reached 44.23bn cubic metres in 2015, compared to 46.57bn cubic metres in 2014, marking an increase of 5.0%.
Moreover, winter crops used 11.60bn cubic metres of water, which is equivalent to 31.6% of the amount of water used in irrigation, while summer crops accounted for 20.65bn cubic metres, which is equivalent to 56.2%. Additionally, Nile crops used about 1bn cubic metres of water, equivalent to 2.7%, and fruit production 3.50bn cubic metres, accounting for 9.5%.
The amount of water used from irrigation wells for the three types of crops and for fruit reached 26,150 cubic metres in 2015 compared to 21,400 cubic metres in 2014, an increase of 22.2%. This is due to an increase in cultivated areas that depend on water wells for most crops and fruits for three seasons.
