Resource Management in the Rainfed Areas of Egypt: Multidisciplinary Surveys

Abstract

Limited soil and water resources and threatened sustainability of agricultural production call for an effective resource management strategy and farming systems approach in agricultural research. Implementing a long-term research program where more emphasis would be on systems-oriented rather than commodity-oriented agricultural research would represent such a strategy. Therefore, the Resource Management Component of the Nile Valley Regional Program (NVRP) of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) was developed. The Component. which started in 1994 in one of the Nile Valley countries, Egypt. and was expected to be extended to the others, aims at achieving sustainable production at a high level, based upon the need to protect the resource base (land and water) through good management. This would be achieved through basic intensive technical research (long-term on-station trials) and on-farm, extensive monitoring of resources in farmers' fields and farmers' decision-making logic. Preparatory studies were carried out prior to conducting the trials and monitoring activities. The objectives of these studies were to define and characterize the major fanning systems of the main agro-ecological environments; to identify and prioritize with respect to the natural resources--the constraints to optimum utilization and the threats to sustainable production; and to provide an outline for the strategy, design and implementation of the long-term research activities. The outcome of these studies is hence presented in what is called the Resource Management Series. The series includes a total of 18 volumes on Inventory Studies, Rapid Rural Appraisals, and Multidisciplinary Surveys in the Old Irrigated Lands. New Lands, and Rainfed Areas. In the inventory Studies, five volumes on the research and development activities and findings in each of the Old and New Lands were compiled. These volumes were on Agronomy, Soil Fertility and Management, Water Management, Socioeconomic Studies, and a Synthesis of all the latter. The inventory Studies of the Rainfed Areas included two volumes, one on the Northwest Coast and the other on North Sinai.