Case Study: Integrated crop-irr igation technology packages scaled out and widely adopted in Egypt and Sudan

Fawzi Karajeh and Atef SwelamIntegrated Water and Land Management Program,International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Cairo- Egypt f.Karajeh@cgiar.org

TS-6: Making research and science reach farmers and end usersFAO’s Land and Water Days in Near East & North Africa

13-18 December Amman-Jordan

Project Focus Sustainable increased productivity of both rainfed and irrigated agriculture – producing

'more crop per drop.‘

Integrated crop-livestock management – more added value 'more income for better livelihood.‘

Rural communities existence 'more resilience to climate variability and change.‘

Criteria

Improved Cultivars

Improved agronomy practices

Optimum levels of inputs- Water +

Value chains; Crop-livestock integration

Improved farmers income

Project Target Indicators- Irr igated Agriculture

 

Wat

er P

rodu

ctiv

ity

Yie

ld

20%

Farmers income

Egypt: Assiut and El-Sharqia Governorates

Sudan: Lower Atbara River region of the River Nile State

The intervention sites

Egypt Field Interventions

• Early maturing varieties • Efficient water use cultivars • Intercropping systems• Crop health: chemical/ organic fertilizers• Improved management practices- Agronomy• Use of raisedbed mechanization-on wheat

Repeated field days approach. Hundred of farmers, extension agents from neighboring villages, researchers, developers, service providers and local media and involved them in the assessment of the results and in discussions on the way forward for technology dissemination and scaling-up.

The approaches for technology transfer and scaling-up (1)

The approaches for technology transfer and scaling-up (2)

Successful Case Study in Egypt (1)

At farm level in Egypt

• Raisedbed technology used 50% less wheat seed.

• An average of 25% less water application, with an

increased wheat yield of up to 24%.

• Increasing farmers’ incomes and improved their

livelihoods.

Successful Case Study in Egypt (1)

In a survey conducted during the 2011/12 crop season by

the Agriculture Research Center-Egypt for 382 farmers in 12

Governorates in Delta and upper Egypt (191 farmers with

direct extension managed fields (EMF), and 191 neighboring

farmers – farmers managed fields (FMF)) adopted the

recommended wide-raisedbed package, 85.9% of EMF and

51.8% FMF reported their high satisfaction from using the

technology; while 2.6% of EMF and 24.1% of FMF were

unsatisfied with the adoption. The high satisfactory is due

mainly to an average increase in yield and reduction in

production costs.

The Case study and the media- Egypt

Sudan -1-Farmers are exposed:Climate change- season variability of surface water from Atbara riverlimited groundwater resources,poor irrigation efficiency, low agriculture productivity, wind erosion, and depleting pastoral resources.

Sudan -2-Farmers obtained an increased in wheat yield by 144% with the same amount of applied irrigation water at the reference site.

Thank you