An Analytical Economic Study for The Optimal Use of Irrigation Water in Egyptian Agriculture

Abstract

Agriculture consumes about 77.5% of Egypt’s share of the Nile water, equivalent to about 62 billion m 3 , in the cultivation of about 10.84 million feddans in 2019, where the average per capita share of the total Egyptian water resources was about 888.53 m 3 /year during the period (2008-2019), while The average per capita share of the total Egyptian water use amounted to about 861.07 m 3 /year during the same period. The prediction of the average per capita of the total water resources according to the existing conditions without taking into account the Renaissance Dam showed that the average per capita of the total water resources during the period (2023-2030) will decrease during that period, as the lowest average per capita of the total water resources will reach In 2030, about 634.8 m 3 /year, and the average period will be about 688.6 m 3 /year, which indicates the need to pay attention to the water resource, which will be exposed to danger in the future. It also became clear from the analysis that Lower Egypt crops ranked first in terms of the average quantities of irrigation water used to irrigate the total of the three loops and fruits, according to the regulations of the field and regions, which amounted to about 22.7 billion m 3 , representing about 60.05% of the average total of the three loops and fruits, which amounted to about 37.8 billion m 3 . followed by Upper Egypt and Middle Egypt with 19.97%, 19.97% of the average total of the three lugs and fruits for the regions, respectively, during the period from the proposed cropping structure to reduce the amount of water at the level of Egypt using linear programming that the proposed comprehensive alternative model is distinguished from the proposed original model as follows: The comprehensive proposed alternative model provides a quantity of water estimated at about 2.5 billion m 3 , while the proposed original model provides about 0.63 billion m 3, with an increase rate of about 296.8% over the original model. Reducing the area of water-hungry crops (rice and sugar cane) in the proposed comprehensive alternative model to 725 and 250 thousand feddans, respectively, while the area in the original proposed model was 1293 and 326 thousand feddans, respectively. , with a decrease rate of about 43.9% and 23.3% for both crops, respectively. The proposed comprehensive alternative model is also distinguished from its counterpart the original proposed model by applying greenhouse technology for winter vegetable crops and allocating the available areas for other crops, which is in line with the state's plan and policy to achieve sustainable agricultural development.