Egypt Nile
By the 1950s food production in Egypt could no longer keep up with population growth. The shortage of irrigated land puts a limit onto the amount of food the farmers of Egypt can produce.
Only 4% of the country can be cultivated; mainly the Nile delta and a narrow strip of land about 8km wide either side of the River Nile. Because of Egypt’s dry climate and little rainfall, farming cannot occur without irrigation.
90% of the water from the Nile used in Egypt goes on irrigating crops.
However the Nile is the only source of water in Egypt so this poses a
massive problem if the population continues to increase in the future.
To try and improve agricultural production a major land reclamation scheme has been introduced. The irrigation systems in place are being extended to the areas on the edge of the desert. This hopes to increase the area under irrigation by 50%.
However by 1997 population growth again put pressure on the land and food resources. The government has now announced ambitious plans to channel 10% of the Nile’s annual flow down a canal through the New Valley Province in the Western Desert. The new irrigated farmland will not only grow food for Egypt but also high-value crops for export.
Plans have also been made to irrigate, using ground water, large areas of land near the Sudanese border.
To try and improve agricultural production a major land reclamation scheme has been introduced. The irrigation systems in place are being extended to the areas on the edge of the desert. This hopes to increase the area under irrigation by 50%.
However by 1997 population growth again put pressure on the land and food resources. The government has now announced ambitious plans to channel 10% of the Nile’s annual flow down a canal through the New Valley Province in the Western Desert. The new irrigated farmland will not only grow food for Egypt but also high-value crops for export.
Plans have also been made to irrigate, using ground water, large areas of land near the Sudanese border.
No comments:
Post a Comment