Assiut - New York: Europe and the Arabs
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is implementing a project to modernize irrigation technologies to improve the livelihoods of small farmers in Upper Egypt with limited incomes by increasing agricultural production through the transition from traditional inefficient individual irrigation practices to smart irrigation technologies and modern smart agriculture systems. According to the UN daily news bulletin, which added that the project worked to achieve an increase in crop productivity per unit of irrigation water used and improve and generate income and employment in the governorates of Assiut, Sohag and Qena.
The UN News correspondent in Egypt shed light on the project in the following report:
In 3 governorates in southern Egypt, namely Sohag, Assiut and Qena, the project "Modernizing Irrigation Technologies to Improve the Livelihoods of Smallholder Farmers" is being implemented in cooperation between the Egyptian government and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
The project aims to increase productivity and save expenses so that the farmer can benefit from the greatest possible return. Mr. Radwan Mohamed Ahmed, head of the Khazam Farmers Association in Qena Governorate, talks about his benefits from the project, saying: "We benefited from the project, which saved us time, effort, irrigation water quantities, and fertilizers, as an acre used to consume more than thirteen sacks. Now, fertilization is done in parallel with drip irrigation through what is known as fertilizers, so the weeds that hinder plant growth have decreased, and thus productivity has increased from 35 tons to 50 tons per acre, and production costs have decreased to a quarter. FAO helps farmers and their families through economic empowerment by establishing agricultural manufacturing projects such as dairy products and poultry farming, and implements a group of awareness seminars for housewives."
Qena Governor Dr. Khaled Abdel Halim said that the project works to increase agricultural production by shifting from traditional ineffective individual irrigation practices to smart irrigation techniques and modern smart agricultural systems. The Qena Governor continued: "We welcome cooperation with development partners, including FAO, through the irrigation systems modernization project being implemented in the governorates of Sohag, Assiut and Qena. The project aims to develop irrigation systems, support farmers and encourage them to use these systems and maximize their benefits by increasing crop productivity, especially sugar cane." The project is being implemented through four components, including a research component with universities, modernizing irrigation systems, and empowering youth and women. In addition to the media component, as Professor Khaled Shatila, the project coordinator at the FAO, says:

"The project includes four components. The first component is concerned with scientific research with universities in Upper Egypt, such as Assiut, Sohag and South Valley Universities, and research centers such as the Agricultural Research Center and the Water Research Center, where research studies are conducted to reach the best practices in agriculture and irrigation. The second component includes mechanisms for modernizing agriculture and irrigation and adopting new methods that are friendly to the environment and climate. The third component is based on a methodology for establishing clusters targeting agricultural manufacturing to empower families economically. As for the fourth component, it is a media component that aims to disseminate the project's ideas and successes."

The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Agriculture in Qena, Eng. Mohamed El-Gilani, believes that the project supports farmers who adopt and practice modern irrigation techniques to increase the production of horticultural and field crops in a sustainable manner while using water more efficiently.

"The Ministry of Agriculture implemented two demonstration fields to generalize the experience of using modern irrigation mechanisms, especially in sugarcane cultivation, so that farmers can benefit. These field schools showed an increase in crop productivity, saving fertilizer use by 50%, and saving irrigation water by 30%." The project to modernize irrigation technologies in Upper Egypt provides support to about eleven thousand smallholder farmers in forty-five targeted villages that were selected through a participatory process led by the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation and the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation in cooperation with the FAO, as Eng. Mohamed Haridi, General Manager of Irrigation in East Qena, says: "One acre of sugar cane consumes about 12 thousand cubic meters per irrigation, and when the farmer uses the drip irrigation mechanism, consumption decreases to 6500 cubic meters per irrigation. We did not use the direct approach with farmers to adopt the new idea so that they would not be repelled by it, but rather we provided them with models of field schools that illustrate the results of using modern irrigation mechanisms, including saving time and effort, saving water, increasing productivity, increasing sugar concentration, and increasing the years of cultivation instead of one year of planting and three crops increasing to four crops. The project is being implemented in partnership with the FAO with a Dutch grant of 12 million euros, as a non-refundable grant, and the project is a great opportunity to expand the use of modern irrigation systems in Upper Egypt." The project will continue to be implemented in Qena Governorate until 2026, as Eng. Mohamed Labib, the project coordinator in Qena Governorate, says: "The financial indicator is the most important for measuring the impact, and therefore, through the project, after generalizing the use of drip irrigation, we aim to increase the productivity of the acre from 30 tons to 50 tons, which will be positively reflected in increasing family income. The project will continue until October 2026 in the governorates of Assiut, Sohag and Qena. We started here in Qena Governorate in the centers of Abu Tesht, Al-Waqf and Qus, and we are trying to generalize the project in cooperation between the FAO and our partners in the Ministries of Irrigation and Agriculture and the presidential initiative, Decent Life."

The irrigation technology modernization project aims to increase agricultural production by shifting from traditional inefficient individual irrigation practices to smart irrigation technologies and modern smart agriculture systems, and it is expected to be generalized in all centers of Qena Governorate by 2026.