Egypt

Central Agricultural Cooperative Union

Agriculture in Egypt

The climate in Egypt is influenced by several factors such as location, aspects of the surface, the overall system pressure and atmospheric depressions and lakes. All this helped the division of Egypt into several distinct climatic zones are in the dry tropical region, with the exception of the northern entrance included in the greenhouse in the temperate zone which has a similar climate to the Mediterranean sea area, which is characterized by the heat and drought in the summer months and moderation in the winter with little rain, but more abundant on the coast. The climate of Egypt is characterized by two climatic seasons, namely a hot and dry summer months between May and October and mild winters with little rain between November and April.

Temperatures in January are: between 9-11 for minimum and maximum between 20- 24 .

The months of July and August  the minimum are between 21- 25 ° C and the maximum between 37- 42 ° C .

Cereal Crops :

Harvest of the legumes :

Sugar Culture :

Fiber Culture :

Forage Culture :

Onion and Garlic Crops :

Cultures of medicinal and aromatic plants and cut flowers :

Vegetable crops :

Available water resources are mainly the Nile, as an important source of water in Egypt, which amounted to 55.5 billion cubic meters per year, according to the Convention of 1959 between Egypt and Sudan, the limited quantities of rainwater and runoff and deep groundwater desert West or East and Sinai are not renewable and can be operated for long periods scheduled by the state of development and water needs.

The Nile River :

  • Egypt is a gift of the Nile because of its dependence on river water to supply nearly all 94.3% of fresh water, which shows that the national security of Egypt depends on the Nile River. Thus, about sixty-five million people are located around the narrow strip of the Nile valley, which extends south to Aswan Cairo to the north. Delta to the Mediterranean Sea depends entirely on the Nile, both for consumption, agriculture, industry and other economic activities.
  • The flow of the Nile varies-as most rivers – every year, reaching a minimum of 42 billion cubic meters / year, measured at Aswan and its maxima 150 billion cubic meters / year. The natural way of the Nile annual flow reached during the current century – estimated at Aswan – about 84 billion cubic meters. The Nile waters are discharged into three major basins are the Ethiopian plateau, the plateau lakes and tropical basin Bahr el Ghazal.

Rainfall and runoff :

  • Rainfall is almost non-existent in Egypt, except on the north coast, where rain falls annually on average between 50-250 mm. . On the northwest coast rainfall varies between 50 to 150 millimeters per year and extensive planted barley reaching more than 100,000 hectares in good years. On the northeast coast, rainfall increases as and as we headed east. Their average Arish is 150 millimeters, while they reach up to about 250 mm à Rafah.
  • Based on the average normal winter rains, the volume of rainwater that flows over northern parts of Egypt can be estimated (about 200,000 km2) in an amount ranging from 5 to10 billion cubic meters per year.This volume flows on the surface a volume between one billion and a half billion cubic meters, much of which evaporates into the atmosphere. The rest seeps into the layers and groundwater recharge.
  • It should be noted that the water flowing over the surface of the river is lost at sea or in coastal salt marshes.
  • When the average winter rainfall increases relatively, which is a phenomenon that occurs once every four or five years, the amount of water flowing on the surface can reach up to 2 billion cubic meters and its impact expands to cover larger areas that Egyptian deserts. When the Egyptian territory is exposed to the monsoon phenomenon that occurs once every ten years, the amount of rain that flows on the surface can reach up to 5 billion cubic meters and its impact is noticeable in the areas of Red Sea, South Sinai and the Nile Basin, often causing global environmental damage.
  • The amount of rain dumped on the Sinai Peninsula is distributed over its various water basins, as well as the amount of rain that flows over the surface and brought out water basins towards the sea 131 670 000 m3 per year, which represents 5.25 overall rainfall.
  • It should be noted that the average annual rainfall across the Egyptian territory is about 8 billion m 3, and the flows are around 1.8 billion m3. This helps to attract and recover the water from these rains in the Sinai, the north coast and the mountain chain of the Red Sea within the limits of 200 to 300.000.000 m3 / year.

The re-use of agricultural drainage water :

  • These waters include the needs of the leaching of soil salts, in addition to system leaks irrigation and sanitation, waste ends of the channels that are not being used, and water and wastewater. This is why these waters are considered of low quality because of its high salinity, mixing with the drainage water , and are often contaminated by chemicals used in agriculture, industry. The salinity of this type of water is between 700 to 3000 ppm.
  • The agricultural drainage water that has been reused are considered one of the main sources on which we can rely for the future development of water resources. It should be borne in mind that the quality of agricultural drainage water has improved and the water treatment side or large stations before mixing with drinking water stations directly, avoiding the mixture with sewage or industrial water to prevent environmental risks arising from the reuse of such water without treatment, while holding the obligation to discharge no less than 50% of the total volume of wastewater into the sea to maintain water balance and salinity in the Nile Delta and prevent an increase in interference effects with sea water aquifer in North Delta.

The use of treated wastewater :

  • The treated wastewater is considered as one of the sources of water that can be used for irrigation if it meets the proper sanitary conditions. The amount of water treated per year has increased from 0.26 billion m3 / year in the early ninety years to about one billion m3 / year in 2000.It is expected to reach about 2 billion m3. It is used to irrigate crops not intended for human or animal food, the culture of forests in the desert for the production of wood, while focusing on the treatment of this water and separation of agricultural drainage to avoid the health risks of chemical residues on public health and the environment.

Groundwater :

  • The renewable groundwater aquifers are shared between the Nile Valley (a stock of 200 billion m3) and the Delta (a stock of 400 billion m3).These waters are considered part of the water resources of the Nile. Water is removed from these reservoirs is estimated at about 6.5 billion m3 since 2006.
  • This remains within the safe withdrawal is equivalent to a maximum of about 7.5 billion m3 saccording to estimates by the Institute for Research on groundwater. It also has a good quality water with a salinity of about 300- 800 ppm in the southern areas of the Delta. It is not permissible to let the water drain these tanks in the case of prolonged drought. This water is considered an important strategic value.
  • It is estimated that the removal of these tanks will approach about 7.5 billion m3 after 2017. Non-renewable aquifers lie under the eastern and western Sahara and the Sinai Peninsula. The most important is the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer in Western Sahara whose stock is estimated at 40,000 billion m3. It lies in the north-east Africa and includes the territory of Egypt, Sudan, Libya and Chad. This tank is one of the most important fresh ground water which are not available for use because they are in Egypt in the source depths, which causes an increased cost of pumping and lifting. So what has been removed from these waters is around about 0.6 billion m3 / year, which is enough to irrigate about 150,000 acres in the region Owainat.
  • An increase in the rate of annual harvest is expected at about 2.5 to 3 billion m3 / year as withdrawal limit safe and economical. In general, avoid the effects of the expected lower level of the aquifer, and the passage of a culture system to a large system of sporadic operations (2000-5000 acres) to keep aquifer for long periods.

Desalination of seawater :

  • Due to the length of the coast of Egypt, both on the Mediterranean Sea or the Red Sea and government action over the last two decades to develop tourism and coastal industrial zones, the provision of water resources for the realization of this development is the guarantee of its existence and sustainability.
  • One of the main possible sources of water in coastal areas is desalination, whether sea water or water with high salinity (brackish water).
  • The concept of desalination (also known as the process of getting rid of salinity) is the process of removing salt from water. This definition is not new, but the challenge is to develop commercially viable ways. The vast experience gained over the last forty years and improvements in desalination technology has made desalination technology widely accepted and high quality water available for arid regions that were previously deprived of their water source for economic and social development.
  • Seawater can be exploited after desalination and transformed into soft, a potential to increase water resources in Egypt water sources. It can be used as a catalyst for development in the desert communities, coastal village and tourist communities. Solar and wind energy can be used in desalination instead of transporting electricity or oil to these sites to increase the savings generated by the operation of this water source.