Reversing Egypt’s Diminishing Food Security

The long-term threats to the Nile, Egypt’s primary water source for agriculture, from climate change and damming are becoming more acute. They affect the country’s ability to feed not only it’s rapidly increasing population, which is currently over 114 million, but also the nine million refugees, mainly from Libya, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. The problem was recently exacerbated as food imports became more expensive due to the rapid depreciation of the Egyptian pound in 2024. Other challenges facing the agriculture sector in Egypt at the field level include land fragmentation, unreliable and inequitable water distribution among farmers, outdated extension systems, low investment, and high reliance on conventional on-farm management practices. As a direct result, many of the rural population already face challenges in achieving energy and food security, with increased competition for diminishing natural resources.

This includes using methods and techniques to improve water productivity in irrigated agriculture for sustainable land and water productivity development.