Exploring Changes in the Agricultural Calendar as a Response to Climate Variability in Egypt

Abstract

Adaptation to climate change should involve changes in agricultural management practices in response to changes in climate conditions. This chapter reviews agricultural adaptation strategies in Egypt in cushioning the effects of climate change. Widely known agricultural adaptation techniques utilized by farmers included the use of drought-resistant crop varieties, crop diversification, changes in crop pattern and planting schedule, soil moisture conservation via suitable tillage practices, improved irrigation efficiency, and forestry and agro-forestry. Crop calendars include information on the timing of periods of crop sowing, growing, and harvesting. A huge number of literature take into consideration the techniques established by farmers to deal with climate variability. However, there is no literature on how exactly the agricultural calendar is presently moving. The current chapter is exploring observed changes in the agricultural calendar as a response to climate variability in Egypt. Land surface phenology (LSP) metrics were used as a proxy for crop calendars and criteria like those of season start and end (SOS and EOS respectively) were applied to classify the pixel-level growth period of active agricultural vegetation. Indeed, this information is not crop-specific, and therefore it is still applicable to use crop calendars from reliable sources which provide crop-specific phenological timing like sowing, growing, and harvesting. It was observed that seasons have shifted and shortened. For instance, in Egypt, the short dry season, which started in August, has shifted to July. In conclusions, there is a shift in cropping areas in Egypt due to gradual climate changes. The chapter has demonstrated the need for farmers to adjust their agricultural calendar and switch to agricultural practices that make better use of natural resources.