Crop Water Requirements and Irrigation Efficiencies in Egypt

Abstract

Water scarcity is the major factor that limits the ambitious hopes to expand and increase the agricultural area to meet the present gap between food production and consumption. In areas like Egypt, located in an arid/semiarid region, where vegetation water requirement represents an important fraction of the total water consumption, the pressure of population growth and increasing domestic demand and other sectors for water represent other challenges for the agricultural sector. Agricultural activity in Egypt consumes from 80 to 85% of water resources. To meet these challenges, good water governance, which aims to reduce losses and increase benefits per unit of water, should be adopted. One of the most important ways to improve water use efficiency and optimize plant production is to provide crops only with the water they need based on the climate-plant-soil relationship. There are many ways to increase water use efficiency, such as improving irrigation canals in old land to increase the conveyance efficiency; using a pressurized irrigation system in new reclaimed lands, in addition to water management practices on farm like laser land leveling; using the raised bed irrigation method, irrigation scheduling, intercropping, crop intensification, and mulching; using soil amendments and organic fertilizers; and using short and drought tolerance varieties. The integrated management for soil, water, and crops is very important to maximize crop yield and water productivity, so in this chapter, the author will provide an overview on how to maximize crop yield with minimal water use.