What is it about?
Egypt requires irrigation development to mitigate the effects of water shortage, food insecurity, and climate change. Smallholder variance and personal irrigation management must be addressed in centralised irrigation development. This study investigates how the characteristics of Old Lands Egyptian farmers influence the design and success of irrigation development programmes. The research looks at farm features, agricultural practises, irrigation practises, and farmer satisfaction with water supply. The clustering strategy organises farmer groups within the program's geographical region and looks for persistent variations that influence irrigation improvement. Farmers' agrotechnology is less diversified, while their capacities, livelihood sources, and land tenure patterns are more diverse. Replication or leverage initiatives should address these specificities in order to create a socially flexible environment for future irrigation investment in Egypt.
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Why is it important?
Irrigation development helps reduce vulnerability, especially from demand and supply pressures on agriculture. However, the enormity of the task demands a centrally managed, yet social procedure to overcome the shortsightedness of isolated and individual infrastructure development. How can government-led irrigation development address the needs of varied farmer communities used to traditional management? Or, should irrigation development initiatives account for farmer heterogeneity? How does individuality affect irrigation investment projects? The subject must be evaluated in the context of farmer engagement and typical patterns because irrigation development projects have been voluntary. Thus, what distinguishes farmers by irrigation project participation?
Perspectives
According to the article, project engagement exposes farmers to crop performance. Inequities are exacerbated at distant farms with a significant interest in these projects. Improvement projects for farmers with no other source of income and limited irrigation service should include attempts to avoid undesirable interactions with less exposed or upstream farms. Individual farm development is not viable in Egypt due to the country's restricted terrain layout. New project subcomponents, on the other hand, may give incentives for larger-scale commitment.
Professor Imre Ferto
Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences: Budapest
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The pieces of the smallholder puzzle: The add‐in role of farmers' characteristics in irrigation improvement projects in the old lands of Egypt, Irrigation and Drainage, February 2022, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1002/ird.2682.
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