Desert Reclamation Project Bayad El Arab, Egypt, August - October 1995 Funded by: Association for International Cooperation of Agriculture & Forestry (Japan) Implemented by: ICA Egypt & ICA Japan
To increase the productivity of food in Egypt, where population is rapidly expanding, ICA has conducted projects in desert agriculture since 1987. Yet the farm had not made enough profit to meet the high expenses to run an irrigation system. ICA sent experts to the farm to build a more efficient irrigation system and cut down expenses. The experts also introduced a new kind of compost technique using EM (Effective Micro-organisms) as an effective technology in desert agriculture.
	1. The signboard at the ICA Egypt demonstration farm project where we improved the desert fruit farm technology and upgraded the irrigation system.
Bayad El Arab on The East Side of The Nile
	2. A view from the east river bank of the Nile and a sand bar in the middle. There is ripe corn on this side and corn cut down on the other. Several crops of corn can be planted each year because the summer season is long and there is plenty of sunshine. Some people live by fishing from small boats in the Nile.
	3. A pump which supplies water to the demonstration farm in Bayad El Arab. People traditionally only engaged in agriculture within 500 meters of the bank of the Nile where there is a good water supply. But it is very difficult to engage in agriculture further than 500 meters from the Nile. Water is the key factor for agriculture on the east side of the Nile.
	4. The Sahara agricultural technology exihibition. We observed several kinds of new equipment for irrigation systems.
Diagrams of the Old and the New Irrigation Systems
Diagram 1.The original irrigation system used one pump that fed a very long distribution system and was vulnerable to common brown outs because of its dependence on electricity.
Diagram 2.The new irrigation system uses one electric and one fuel driven pump in combination with a water reservoir tank.
Construction of the Water Reservoir Tank for the Irrigation System
	5. Village people digging a hole for the water tank. The size of the hole is 7m (L) X 7m (W) X 1.5m (D). This work took 7 days by 7-8 workers with picks and shovels.
	6. Cement was used to make the foundation of the water tank. This work took 3 hours by about 30 workers from a nearby building construction site.
	7. Workers completing the foundation of the water tank. It was made strong with high quality cement.
	8. Workers building the walls with bricks. Concerned about cement drying time and the 40 degree centigrade afternoon temperature, they began working in the shady spot.
	9. Coating the walls with cement. Two workmen completed excellent walls and also trained two trainees.
	10. The completed water tank which provides a reliable supply of water that is not dependent on electricity. The electric pump alone was not reliable because the electricity sometimes goes off for up to 24 hours.
	11. We tarred the inside of the water tank to prevent leaks. We made the water tank larger (77 cubic meters) than the minimum necessary capacity (50 cubic meters).
12A & 12B. The water pipe to the water tank was installed at the center of the farm.
	13. Connecting the fuel driven pump to the fertilizer distributor. This second pump moves water from the new storage tank to the entire farm.
	14. We chose an adequate 5.8 horse power Kubota pump with an 800 liter-per-minute pumping power . It makes it possible to supply water 50 liters of water to every tree even during an electric failure.
	15. Water pumped from Nile river fills the tank. The tank becomes full after about 5 hours. The cost of pumping is lower now because there is much less backpressure.
	16. The new water pumping system is completed. Now the water can be pumped from the Nile at night when the electric rates are low.
Compost Pit Construction
	17. The compost (mainly animals waste) was made before ICA:Japan staff arrived. However, it was not yet useful because it was only piled up in heaps, and therefore was incompletely decomposed due to a lack of moisture. Also it was susceptible to the growth of harmful putrefaction bacteria. For this reason, we guided them to make compost made mainly from plants. The trees behind the compost provide shelter from the wind.
	18. The first step of building a compost tank: a 2 m x 2 m x 1 m hole is dug.
	19. The second step of building a compost tank: pouring concrete in the bottom of the hole and digging a small hole for controlling water drainage.
	20. The third step of building a compost tank: building walls with concrete blocks. (1.2 m x 1.2 m x 1.2m tank size).
	21. The fourth step of building a compost tank: sealing the walls with a thin coat of concrete. This is a compost tank made for anaerobic bacterial decomposition.
	22. The fifth step of building a compost tank: roofing made with wood frames for cooling to promote bacteria growth. Leaves of date palms placed on the roof also provide shade . We guided farmers to use such locally available materials which are easy to find.
	23. We explained the nature of the circulation system and how organic matter such as compost in the ground can help productivity because of its power to neutralize saline conditions. We used eggplant branches, eucalyptus leaves, other plants and organic waste, and also mixed Effective Microorganisms (EM) into the anaerobic decomposition tank.
Desert?@Farm?@Agriculture
	24. This is an example of the serious damage by harmful insects which is a big problem all over Egypt. This insect's name is leaf-miner which is yellow, 3 - 4 mm long, and mainly burrows into the thin membrane at the underside of leaves. These insects especially damage young buds on twigs and sometimes hinder trees growth. Currently there is no effective solution.
	25. Sweet lemon branches damaged by the harmful leaf-miner insects. Mainly the tops of branches are damaged. These harmful insects are not a serous problem in Japan where they are called painting insects.
	26. The left half of an existing lemon tree became yellow. These branches don't have any thorns and are soft and easily broken. Therefore, they are easily damaged by harmful insects. Some of them are already dead. This salty soil needs to be neutralized for good growth of fruits trees.
The Farm's Green House
	27. We collected and chemically analyzed the soil at depths of 0 - 30 cm and 30 - 60 cm in three corners of the farm that were each planted with a different kind of fruit tree: oranges, apricots, and lemons. The results showed that in the apricot and lemon corners, there were excess salts and insufficient potassium. Because potassium is especially necessary for lemons and oranges we advised them to buy potassium fertilizer.
	28. A nursery house in a farm. It protects saplings from strong sunshine with a black mesh shade cover. There is a nursery bed on this side. These saplings are transplanted to black pots. There is also a sprinkler which supplies water and cools the inside of the nursery house several times a day. To our disappointment, there are harmful insects here.
	29. Rootstock of Rongpur is used widely in Egypt. It is appropriate to the desert and has various tolerances. Volkamerican is another useful rootstock slightly different in leaf shape and fragrance. These are grafted in Spring and Autumn.
Grafting
	30. Manneola, a kind of Mandarin grafted is on Volkamerican. Manneola planted directly without grafting will be damaged by harmful insects which gather around roots. Grafting is especially effective in the harsh conditions of the desert.
	31. A lemon tree grafted on Rongpur. Various combinations are being tested.
	32. These grafted saplings become about 1 m high within a half year of grafting. They are sold along Beni-Surf road as a source of income.
Vegetables and Weeds in the desert
	33. Eggplants planted in a corner of the farm. Many are not bearing fruit or bearing very small fruit at harvest time. Eggplant is planted in the farm because it is more appropriate to desert conditions than to moist land. We guided them not plant eggplant in the same field every year and to rotate with nitrogen-fixing beans such as soy beans the next year.
	34. A kind of weed, called sheek in Arabic, which grows all over the farm. This weed is resistant to dry conditions. In fact, it has long straight roots of more than 2 m. Useful bacteria gathers around it roots (in a 50 cm circular range). Desert plants have unique ecological means of preventing excess water consumption, such as small leaves.
	35. A farmer tilling around a plum tree with a cultivating machine. This machine is for weeding and aerating the soil. We suggested weeding near the trees by hand to avoid harming the tree's roots. The trees futher toward the rear are peach trees.

 

 

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