Human Development Indicators in Rural Egypt

The study focused on human development indicators in rural Egypt, not only because the rural population is close to 60% and 60% of the rural household income from agricultural production, where the traditional agriculture system is of holdings smaller than 5 Feddans represents 80% of the landholdings. They perform under limitations of labor intensive, traditional irrigation technologies, and they suffer from high rural/urban human gap. The concerned human development indicators were the rural/Urban gap, poverty, income distribution, labor force structure and employment, health status, education and migration, the allocation and productivity of agricultural resources, particularly land, water and energy. The food Security development was assessed through the self-sufficiency ratios, dietary consumption pattern and the role of food and agriculture sectors in the national econom

Human Development Indicators in Rural Egypt

The study focused on human development indicators in rural Egypt, not only because the rural population is close to 60% and 60% of the rural household income from agricultural production, where the traditional agriculture system is of holdings smaller than 5 Feddans represents 80% of the landholdings. They perform under limitations of labor intensive, traditional irrigation technologies, and they suffer from high rural/urban human gap. The concerned human development indicators were the rural/Urban gap, poverty, income distribution, labor force structure and employment, health status, education and migration, the allocation and productivity of agricultural resources, particularly land, water and energy. The food Security development was assessed through the self-sufficiency ratios, dietary consumption pattern and the role of food and agriculture sectors in the national econom

Human Development Indicators in Rural Egypt

The study focused on human development indicators in rural Egypt, not only because the rural population is close to 60% and 60% of the rural household income from agricultural production, where the traditional agriculture system is of holdings smaller than 5 Feddans represents 80% of the landholdings. They perform under limitations of labor intensive, traditional irrigation technologies, and they suffer from high rural/urban human gap. The concerned human development indicators were the rural/Urban gap, poverty, income distribution, labor force structure and employment, health status, education and migration, the allocation and productivity of agricultural resources, particularly land, water and energy. The food Security development was assessed through the self-sufficiency ratios, dietary consumption pattern and the role of food and agriculture sectors in the national econom

The Palestinian agricultural sector: deepening dependency and the failure of international development aid

This research details how development aid to the Palestinian agricultural sector not only fails to foster Palestinian self-sufficiency. It demonstrates how this aid buttresses a system of economic interconnection wherein Palestinian agriculture is dependent both on Israeli materials and cooperation, and on international funding for agricultural development projects. This research relies on a breadth of past academic analyses and fieldwork conducted in Palestine in October, 2011. This research concludes that, for development aid to be effective in building greater Palestinian sovereignty, it should be focused on economic sectors that are more independent of Israeli control

Prospects for productive use of saline water in West Asia and North Africa

Water quality / Salinity / Soil salinity / Irrigated farming / Crop production / Feed crops / Fodder / Poverty / Public policy / West Asia / North Africa / Egypt / Jordan / Syria / Tunisia

Sustainable Agricultural Development in the Western Desert of Egypt Under Climate Change: A Case Study of the Siwa Region

The Siwa region located in the Western Desert of Egypt is a natural depression and has a large volume of groundwater from the non-renewable Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System (NSAS). Recently the government initiated a development project to reclaim 1.5 million acres where most of the lands are located in the Western Desert to use available groundwater from NSAS. The primary goal of this project is to increase agricultural areas enabling rural development. Siwa is one of the areas that will be reclaimed in the desert by about 30,000 acres consisting of good soil quality. This dissertation aims to understand the historical groundwater use, its impact on the Siwa region, and ways to expand agricultural practices in the coming decades per government development initiative considering different climatic conditions. In this dissertation, three studies are addressed. The first one is to analyze and assess the historical use of the groundwater from NSAS and the corresponding impact on crop yield and revenue. The second study is to address the proposed development project in Siwa consisting of 30,000 acres under current climatic conditions and considering government policies in the next 20 years. In the third one, the effect of climate change on agricultural developments is studied. This research is a useful guide to analyze and assess the development potentials of other areas of the Western Desert under similar government policies considering different climatic conditions

Bedouin society strategies facing drought in North West coastal zone of Egypt: A case study of Wadi Naghamish

La zone côtière du nord - ouest (NWCZ) de l'Egypte qui s'étend de la frontière du Gouvernorat d'Alexandrie à l'est jusqu'à la frontière libyenne à l'ouest, ne dépend que des précipitations pour ses activités culturales et d'élevage. Cette zone a connu de nombreuses transformations au cours de son histoire, étant considérée comme un grenier à céréales dans les temps anciens (périodes égyptiennes, grecques et romaines) pour devenir une zone à dominante élevage depuis le début du XIe siècle suite à la colonisation par une tribu Awlad Ali originaire de la Lybie. Plus récemment, au cours du vingtième siècle et plus particulièrement dans les années 60 - 70 et ce avec l'appui de grands projets internationaux de développement en lien avec les politiques nationales, les éleveurs bédouins se sont largement investis dans l'agriculture pluviale (principalement l'orge) pour la consommation humaine et animale et aussi l'arboriculture dans les dépressions et le lit des oueds (principalement les plantations de figuiers, oliviers et amandiers). En raison de la faiblesse des précipitations au cours des 50 dernières années, l'arboriculture est devenue une source importante de revenus pour les ménages bédouins. Au cours des quinze années d'observation (de 1995 à 2010), la moyenne annuelle des précipitations a été d'environ 140mm. Ainsi, cette période est considérée par la population locale comme la plus longue période de sécheresse depuis le début du vingtième siècle. La sécheresse a eu plusieurs effets négatifs sur la société bédouine dont les effets les plus cités sont la perte de pâturages et du couvert végétal, la pénurie d'eau, la dégradation des terres, et une réduction du bétail et des activités de culture. Toutefois, cette période de 1995 à 2010 a aussi connu de nombreux autres changements dans les domaines économiques et sociaux, notamment en lien avec la sédentarisation des ménages bédouins et le développement urbain et touristique des villes côtières. Ces changements ont engendré plusieurs opportunités pour les populations locales, notamment des opportunités de travail ou de commercialisation des produits locaux. Plus en lien avec une tradition de mobilité, les jeunes hommes ont continué d'émigrer à la recherche d'un emploi; les principales destinations étant les pays du Golfe et la Libye. Dans le même temps, les projets internationaux se sont intéressés à l'amélioration de la gestion des oueds avec notamment le renforcement des infrastructures d'eau qui ont largement contribué au développement de l'agriculture dans les lits des oueds. Le bassin versant de Naghamish (dit wadi Naghamish), représentant l'un des 218 bassins versants de la zone côtière nord - ouest, a été choisi pour notre zone d'étude. Ce wadi a également été affecté par la période de sécheresse (1995 - 2011). Notre objectif a été de comprendre, voire d'évaluer, les effets de la sécheresse sur l'état des ressources naturelles et la capacité des sociétés bédouines à y faire face voire s'adapter. Pour cela, nous avons mobilisé deux principales approches socio-économiques pour analyser les comportements des ménages, ces approches étant basées respectivement sur des enquêtes semi-structurées et des entretiens ouverts. Les données et informations collectées ont été croisées avec des approches géographiques telles que la télédétection (RS) et le système d'information géographique (SIG) qui nous ont permis d'associer les changements socio-économiques avec les changements sur les ressources naturelles et leur utilisation. Une évaluation hydrologique pour les ressources en eau disponibles a été effectuée dans trois scénarios différents (humide, sec et moyenne) afin de comprendre les processus d'adaptation des familles bédouines au changement des précipitations en intégrant les trois approches socio-économique, géographique et hydrologique. Les résultats montrent que la sécheresse de la période (1995-2010) a causé trois différents types de sécheresse dans la zone d'étude : climatiques, hydrologique et agricole. Au-delà de la multitude des changements observés, la sécheresse a été la principale raison de la baisse des effectifs du cheptel dans la zone d'étude, ainsi que de la diminution de la productivité des cultures at arboricultures, entraînant de nombreuses recompositions des activités au sein des familles bédouines. Ainsi, ont démarré des activités semi-intensives d'engraissement ovin ou d'aviculture ou de nouvelles migrations urbaines dans les secteurs publics. Ces changements d'activités se sont opérés en même temps que des changements de mode de vie liés à l'urbanisation, la modernisation des habitations, le développement des infrastructures et de l'éducation. L'étude montre aussi des changements significatifs dans la couverture végétale entre 1993 et 2011 et une pénurie permanente d'eau en saison sèche quelle que soit l'année climatique. Si les familles bédouines ont réussi à trouver des ajustements familiaux à la sécheresse de 1995-2010, l'absence de stratégies et d'actions collectives constitue un frein important dans la réduction des effets de dégradation des sols et dans la gestion de la ressource eau. (Résumé d'auteur

An analysis of food consumption patterns in Egypt

The food problem, the problem of adequate nutrition, is regarded as a major strategic issue that attracts intensive attention at all levels. Its significance stems from its important political and socio-economic dimensions. This thesis presents an analysis of the situation of food security and demand in Egypt. It depends mainly on both a descriptive and an econometric analysis of the most recent Egyptian Household Income, Expenditure, and Consumption Survey that has been conducted by the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) of the Government of Egypt in 1999/2000. This study estimates partial and complete food demand systems as a basis for choosing future Egyptian food policies. The results of the econometric analysis provide expenditure elasticities by region and household size for major food commodity groups in Egypt and expenditure and price elasticities for Egypt as a whole. Results indicate that expenditure and price elasticities for selected food groups are relatively high in Egypt. As expected, the estimation results show that expenditure elasticities for all food groups are positive and less than one, except for fruits, meats, and milk; indicating that most selected food groups are necessities. With the food groups such as fruits, meats, and milk having expenditure elasticities larger than unity, identifying them as luxuries, it is expected that these food groups will experience an increase in demand when consumers’ income increases in tandem with the overall economic growth of the country

Evaluating the Effects of Human Activity over the Last Decades on the Soil Organic Carbon Pool Using Satellite Imagery and GIS Techniques in the Nile Delta Area, Egypt

The study aims to clarify the relationship between soil organic carbon (SOC) and human activity under arid conditions, in the east area of the Nile Delta, Egypt. SOC is one of the critical factors in food production and plays an important role in the climate change because it affects the physio-chemical soil characteristics, plant growth, and contributes to sustainable development on global levels. For the purpose of our investigations, 120 soil samples (0–30 cm) were collected throughout different land uses and soil types of the study area. Multiple linear regressions (MLR) were used to investigate the spatiotemporal relationship of SOC, soil characteristics, and environmental factors. Remote sensing data acquired from Landsat 5 TM in July 1995 and operational land imager (OLI) in July 2018 were used to model SOC pool. The results revealed significant variations of soil organic carbon pool (SOCP) among different soil textures and land-uses. Soil with high clay content revealed an increase in the percentage of soil organic carbon, and had mean SOCP of 6.08 ± 1.91 Mg C ha−1, followed by clay loams and loamy soils. The higher values of SOCP were observed in the northern regions of the study area. The phenomenon is associated with the expansion of the human activity of initiating fish ponds that reflected higher values of SOC that were related to the organic additions used as nutrients for fish. Nevertheless, the SOC values decreased in southeast of the study area with the decrease of soil moisture contents and the increase in the heavy texture profiles. As a whole, our findings pointed out that the human factor has had a significant impact on the variation of soil organic carbon values in the Eastern Nile Delta from 1995 to 2018. As land use changes from agricultural activity to fish ponds, the SOCP significantly increased. The agriculture land-use revealed higher SOCP with 60.77 Mg C ha−1 in clay soils followed by fish ponds with 53.43 Mg C ha−1. The results also showed a decrease in SOCP values due to an increasing in land surface temperature (LST) thus highlighting that influence of temperature and ambient soil conditions linked to land-use changes have a marked impact on surface SOCP and C sequestration