Prof. Dr Ala'a Bunduq, First Undersecretary of Ministry
of Agriculture and Land Reclamation and Representative of Deputy Prim Minister
and Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation
Prof. Dr Yousif Walley;
Dr Ghassan Hamdalla Representative of FAO Regional Office in Egypt;
Dear
Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my pleasure to welcome you at the Executive Authority for Land Improvement Projects, which has the honour to host the regional workshop on land resources information systems in the Near East, 3-6 September 2001, under auspices of the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation.
In Egypt, agriculture is shaped by two goals - the first goal is maximum national production per unit area, the second goal is maximum production per cubic meter of water. Therefore, this strategy relates the utilization of national resources, soil and water, and to do this in a proper way we need tools and technologies which will allow to develop these resources in a sustainable manner without encroachment or putting pressure on the environment or affecting these fragile resources.
The total Egyptian agricultural land is about 8 million ha (3.36 million ha) which is almost entirely dependent on irrigation. With a population of about 66 million people, there is tremendous and constant pressure to produce more on a very limited resource base. At present 50 percent of the land resources in Egypt is either of poor or of low quality mainly because of development of salinity and sodicity problems, which hinder realization of the beneficial effects of any agricultural inputs.
Therefore, increased attention has been given to increase the productivity of such deteriorated soils. Since its establishment in 1971 by the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, the Executive Authority for Land Improvement Projects (EALIP) has had the overall responsibility for all types of land improvement in Egypt, with the main function to promote activities and actions which lead to increased yield and productivity of old land and to check the deterioration of soil capabilities. It plays a central role in implementing the strategy of the government for better utilization, conservation and restoration of land productivity. It has a yearly plan to improve one million ha, through 22 regional offices and 37 subregional offices in the different Governorates of Egypt. It undertakes a soil improvement programme including gypsum application for improving productivity of sodic soil; subsoiling to improve soil physical properties, break up hard pans, soil compactions and all indurated layers within the roat zone; and land levelling, reshaping of field drains, and canals for better water management. Since the establishment of EALIP and till now a total area of 12 million feddans were studied and 11 million feddans were improved, with a reported increase in the agricultural production exceeding 30 percent.
GIS-based soil degradation data have been available at EALIP since 1996. EALIP has produced information maps on salinity, gypsum requirements, subsoiling and water table depth for the whole country on the district level (1: 100 000), for one governorate on the village level (1:25 000) and for three governorates on the basin level (1:2 500). Work is going on to produce these maps at a basin level for the whole country.
I want to express my deep appreciation to The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for their constant support to strengthen the information capacity of our authority and I look forward to continuing this cooperation in the future.
Before ending, I would like to welcome you to Egypt, and I am confident that the exchange of experiences and know-how that will take place in this workshop will prove profitable and enriching to all.
Thank you.
|
Eng. Ahmed Dawoud |
Mr Ala'a Bunduq, 1st Deputy Minister for Agriculture & Land
Reclamation;
Engineer Ahmad Dawoud, Chairman of the Executive Authority for
Land Improvement Projects;
Colleagues and Friends,
It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to this Workshop on behalf of Dr. Atif Bukhari, the FAO Regional Representative for the Near East.
Friends, this current Workshop on Land Resources Information Systems comes at the right time for the Near East.
The 29 Member Countries of the Region extend over a wide geographic span from West Asia to the Atlantic Ocean. The Region covers about 10 percent of the world's land area and had a population of about 600 million, but receives about 2 percent of the global renewable fresh water resources.
In addition, the arable lands in the majority of the Region's countries are limited. An overall average of the arable land available is about 0.20 ha/capita; and in some countries it is less than 0.01 ha. The severe limitations of both land and fresh water resources, coupled with escalating demand for food to feed the ever-increasing population, all tend to aggravate the pressure on the natural resource base and seriously threaten its sustainability. Here the sound management of land and water resources becomes a necessity and not just an option.
One other factor that adds to the complexity of the resource situation relates to the great disparity in the geographic distribution. To explain this contrast in the Near East, we observe that about 60 percent of the good arable lands lie in only four countries of the Region: Iran, Pakistan, Sudan and Turkey. On the other hand, the high-income countries of the GCC council are very poor in terms of both fresh water and good agricultural lands. While the Sudan, for example, has 220 million acres of arable lands, it is often living with food gaps in many parts of the country because of the inadequate infrastructure and capital investment allocations for agricultural development.
We are living in the Information Technology Era, which is manifested in all aspects of our life. Sound planning and sustainable utilization of resources requires reliable information, and updated figures. Access to information has become easy and affordable by almost all nations. They need to deal with their national databases seriously, update the data regularly and establish linkages with other relevant regional and global networks.
The Egyptian experience in establishing the Gateway for Land, Water, and Fertilizers is a good example and we are all pleased to cite it as a success story. In addition to the trained cadre that the country has acquired, this Information System can provide valuable tools for monitoring and evaluation for the soil conditions and could spot any potential hazard such as: salinity level, depth to water table, or any nutrients degradation that requires intervention. Being part of the FAO global Gateway, it gives the national information system an international dimension and broadens its use and circulation
As you are aware, land and water utilization for agricultural production in our Region is facing tough competition from other economic sectors, such as industry, urban, and tourism development. The rate of return per ha or per cubic meter of fresh water is been reckoned for all these sectors, including agriculture. It is a known fact that the share of agricultural consumption of water claims over 90 percent of the total sum in our Region. Assuming this lion share from a dear and vital source of life "Water", one cannot afford to be wasteful or random in its use. Precise planning and utilization of these limited water resources and the good productive soil resources surely need correct and updated data.
Our Workshop today falls within the efforts of FAO, in cooperation with our colleagues from the other Regional and International Organizations, in providing technical assistance to our Member countries in their endeavours to strengthen their national capacity to inventory and conserve their national resource base.
I would like here to recognize and welcome the presence of our colleagues, representatives from AOAD, ESCWA, Arab League, and the UNEP Regional Office in Bahrain.
Dear Participants, we are looking forward to your Country Reports that you have compiled. You will have the opportunity to discuss the format, data collection and reporting, updating and networking with others. This will help in harmonizing the terminology, framework and data reporting of the national Gateway, as part of the Global FAO one.
You have a busy programme and a field trip, and I am sure that you will benefit a great deal from the exchange of national experiences that became possible through the joint efforts of FAO and the Executive Authority for Land Improvement Projects of the Ministry.
Before closing, I would like to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to the Executive Authority and particularly the Chairman, Engineer Ahmed Dawoud and the Soils Department Director, Dr. Mohammad Goma'a and his associates, for the excellent set-up, facilities and logistic support they provided to the organization of the Workshop.
Allow me also to welcome the presence of our participants from Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey and Yemen; as well as the presence of all other organizations.
I wish you a successful workshop.
Thank you all.
