Impact of Climate Change on the Agricultural Sector in Egypt

Abstract

The complex interrelationship between environmental change and agricultural production will become one of the most significant policy debates, in both developed and developing countries particularly in the coming decades of the twenty-first century. Global and regional climate changes will modify both agricultural production capacity and locations of production. Also, the increasing intensity of agricultural production will contribute to environmental change at both the regional and global scale. Agricultural production in Egypt depends on irrigation, using surface water coming from the River Nile. Groundwater also contributes with very low amounts. Generally, the agricultural sector is considered the largest consumer of water (80% from total water budgets). Climate change can have several kinds of impacts on the agricultural sector and stability of food security in Egypt. Crop production will be affected negatively due to the expected increases in temperature, extreme weather events, drought, plant diseases, and pests. Also, the land use will change due to flooding from sea level raising, seawater intrusion, and secondary salinization. Water resources may be affected due to global warming and decreases in precipitation. Moreover, crop water requirements are expected to increase. The confounding effect of all these components represents the main challenge for researchers. The current infrastructure and cropping systems have to be changed to comply with future demands with regard to the growing population and the threat of climate change. The negative impacts of climate change on agricultural crops can be reduced by the implementation of integrated farm-level adaptation strategies, for instance, changes in the date of planting, cultivars, use of extra fertilization, and changing irrigation intervals. The author will present in this chapter the impact of climate change on agriculture in Egypt and some adaptation strategies to reduce these impacts.