Community-Based Integrated Water Management in Farafra Oasis, Egypt

Final Narrative Report

Project duration: April 2006 – January 2009

Project Leader: Richard Tutwiler, Research Professor and Director Proposing Institution: Desert Development Center, The American University in Cairo

Project Team:

1. Dr Richard Tutwiler, Principal Investigator 2. Dr Salah Arafa, Co-Principal Investigator 3. Christopher Raftery, Research and Reports Coordinator 4. Dr Tina Jaskolski, Field Researcher; Project Coordinator 5. Jessica Pouchet, Field Researcher 6. Joseph Viscomi, Research Methodology Consultant 7. Hassan Husseiny, Agriculture and Irrigation Engineer

-Egypt-

IDRC Grant No.: 101806 AUC Grant No.: DC-32

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. BACKGROUND ....................................................................................................... 3

II. WATER DEMAND MANAGEMENT ISSUES .................................................... 4

III. INITIATING COMMUNITY-BASED WDM IMPROVEMENT ....................... 7

IV. CLEANING THE SECONDARY CANALS OF BIR 1 ........................................ 8

V. LINING A SECONDARY CANAL IN BIR WAHID ........................................... 9

X. LEARNING FROM THE WADIMENA EXPERIENCE................................... 16

XI. REMAINING RESEARCH GAPS ....................................................................... 17

VIII. PICTURE GALLERY.................................................................................... 19

IX. REFERENCES........................................................................................................ 21

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I. BACKGROUND The Arab Republic of Egypt, a nation of almost 80 million people has a land area that is 96% desert, including some of the most arid environments in the world. The New Valley Governorate, covering a large part of the Western Desert, located to the west of the Nile Valley, encompasses 376,505 square kilometers. Within this vast region, which is mostly a sandstone and limestone plateau, there are a number of geological depressions in which the lowered land surface approaches underground water reserves. In several of these depressions, groundwater is under natural pressures and reaches the surface through fissures in the overbearing rock. This is the geological context of the famous Egyptian desert oases such as Siwa, Baharia, Farafra, Dakhla, and Kharga that have been occupied and farmed since Pharaonic times. WaDImena Egypt concentrated on studying and improving water demand management in the oasis of Abu Minqar, a small, ethnically diverse community of resettled low-income farmers established in 1987. As the oasis depends on a fossil source of water, the Nubian Aquifer System, efficient water use is crucial. This involves both improvements in irrigation and drainage infrastructure as well as irrigation and agricultural practices. The oasis is much newer than its famous neighbors Farafra and Dakhla and its settlement is a direct result of desert reclamation and agricultural expansion. In the 1950s, deep drilling revealed immense groundwater reserves beneath the Western Desert. The Egyptian government announced ambitious plans to develop potential farmland in the depressions through drilling wells, building infrastructure, and settling tens of thousands of impoverished rural people from the Nile Valley and Delta. The idea of the New Valley rising in the string of desert oases to the west of the old Nile Valley was born. After initial studies and infrastructural activities in the early sixties, projects were put on hold following the 1967 and 1973 wars as the government put its resources to other tasks. In the 1980s and 1990s, however, a number of agricultural settlement projects were begun in the New Valley Governorate oases of Kharga, Dakhla, and Farafra. By 2000/2001, approximately 108,067 acres of land had been developed for agriculture and the rural population in the three main oases of the New Valley had grown to almost 200,000. Agricultural progress in the New Valley, however, has been a disappointment. Initial expectations of high crop yields and excellent incomes for settlers have been frustrated by poor performance and stalled growth. In addition to low productivity, there are inefficient irrigation methods and high water losses that further reduce agricultural potential. Wasteful flood irrigation is practiced by the majority of farmers in the New Valley. Most irrigation canals are unlined. Seepage and evaporation in unlined canals cause water loss of up to 50%. The drainage system is dysfunctional in many places, causing water logging, soil degradation and salinity problems.

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Low incomes from agriculture lead to low levels of investment by farmers in improving their productivity, thus creating somewhat of a vicious cycle. Some oases of the New Valley also suffer from a lack of public services as well as second and tertiary sector economic development. Their geographical distance from other oases and the Nile Valley limits farmers’ access to regional markets. Many local crop and livestock varieties are neither particularly productive nor easily marketable on regional and national markets. The research conducted by the WaDImena Egypt team, the first ever of its kind in Abu Minqar, indicates that many problems the communities of Abu Minqar face can be overcome through reasonably simple technical innovations, but that successful development must be built upon a firm foundation of farmer and community participation and capacity building. Careful attention should be paid to agricultural product value chains and marketing so that producers can receive the maximum economic benefit from their production. The environmental impact of soil and water management, as well as crop and livestock production, must be assessed to determine sustainability and natural resource conservation. Finally, communicating the knowledge gained from these activities and formulating experience in the form of policy recommendations that can be implemented by decision-makers and service providers is critical to long-term development success.

II. WATER DEMAND MANAGEMENT ISSUES

Water in Abu Minqar is supplied by 15 deep wells that reach down to depths ranging between 600 and 1,000 meters. Some of these wells are artesian, and others are operated by a motorized pump. As the rainfall in Egypt’s Western Desert is virtually zero, the oasis depends exclusively on the water supply from these deep wells, which tap the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System.

The Nubian Aquifer spans across Sudan, Chad, Libya, and Egypt and reaches Sinai and southern Israel in the North (Robinson et al., 2007; Wallin et al., 2005). The aquifer system has a “subsurface extent of over 630,000 km²” (Dabous and Osmond, 2001, 243). The thickness of the sandstones that contain the artesian flow system ranges from 400 km depth near Kharga Oasis to a depth of over 2 km at Siwa Oasis. The aquifer system is stratified and consists of several different horizons – at Dakhla and Kharga Oases, for example, are two layers: an “upper aquifer, reported at the depth of about 400m”; and a “lower aquifer, reported at a depth of about 650m from the surface” (Dabous and Osmond, 200, 244, quoting Shata, 1982).

The Nubian Aquifer System is a source of fossil water, as it accumulated over thousands of years and experiences “negligible recharge in the present arid conditions” (Robinson et al., 2007 37). This means that the water is a non-renewable resource. It is not clear how long ground water will be available for extraction from the aquifer, especially as extraction rates are intensifying in most North-African countries over the system. Present estimates for usable water resources in the aquifer vary between 100 and 300 year’s supply. The Government estimates 300 years of water availability for Farafra oasis.

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Currently, about 0.6 billion m3 of water are pumped from deep aquifers in Egypt alone, however estimates say that the oases of Farafra and Abu Minqar drill amounts of water that are still significantly below their potential (Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, 2001). The pressure on the aquifer will increase as new wells in and around the community are being drilled, partly by private companies and investors. How such increased pressure on the finite water resource will impact the sustainability of agricultural production and livelihoods as well as social cohesion within New Valley communities remains a topic for future research.

Water management practices in Abu Minqar differ according to the type of well. In irrigation command areas served by artesian wells, agricultural water management is based on informal negotiation systems. As water is discharged from the well day and night, the irrigation schedule covers all 24 hours of every day. Farmers usually receive one hour of water per feddan owned every 15 days, which, for a beneficiary’s standard plot of six feddan, means six hours of water every 15 days. This schedule varies slightly according to season and the types of crops planted. For example, farmers who plant rice in the summer must irrigate more frequently than every 15 days. In Bir 1, a committee of “elders” composed of the original beneficiaries who first settled in Abu Minqar in the 1980s, and whose level of experience is highly respected, oversees the informal water distribution schedule and reports to the local government irrigation officer in Farafra. The informal water distribution arrangements are largely independent from government interference and provide flexibility for negotiation and ad hoc arrangements. For example, farmers with neighboring fields have adjoined their irrigation time slots, thereby reducing the inefficiencies and waste associated with transferring water in the canal system from one area to another.

In irrigation command areas serviced by pump-operated wells, on the other hand, water distribution is more controlled. Irrigation times are tied to pump working hours. A government-employed local farmer operates the pump’s generator and supervises operations throughout each day. As the water supply is controlled by the pump, it can be tailored to better match demand, for example, by season or crop requirements. Irrigation hours vary immensely as the operator runs the well for as little as five hours in the winter to up to 12 hours in the summer due to perceived water excesses and shortages, respectively. This allows for less waste and more efficient irrigation in these command areas. The downside, however, is the need for a diesel generator to operate the pump, which is less energy-efficient and causes pollution.

Research in Abu Minqar has shown that its population’s primary concern is not the long-term sustainability of water availability. Rather, people worry about the current agricultural system’s water inefficiencies. Together with local residents, the research team identified the following primary concerns facing water demand management in the agricultural sector of Abu Minqar:

• Most of the 13 irrigation command areas of Abu Minqar have only one lined irrigation canal, while some have none.

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• In the unlined canals, which are clogged with weeds, water loss between the well and the fields due to seepage and evaporation reaches 50%.

• The drainage infrastructure is malfunctioning in many irrigation command areas due to clogging, disconnection from the main drains, absence, or faulty leveling that locates drains at higher altitudes than the fields. Dysfunctional drainage causes water logging and high levels of salinity, and in some cases, renders fields unusable.

• The perceived abundance of water in winter is used to irrigate fields outside the official irrigation command area, and the remainder flows directly into the drainage system – some of it completely unused. As a result, drainage lakes grow to a considerable size over the winter months. By contrast, because of the shortage of water that actually reaches the fields in summer due to higher evaporation rates and plant water requirements, farmers are only able to cultivate 30-50% of their land. For example, farmers who own six feddan generally only plant crops on two to four feddan in summer. Improved irrigation infrastructure could reduce this loss significantly, rendering that the issue rather than water scarcity.

• The current inability to control artesian wells’ water supply by temporarily limiting or switching off their flow, or by storing the water, results in considerable wastage. If such control were made possible for the decreased water demand in winter, then water loss could be reduced significantly.

• Flood irrigation is almost universally used in Abu Minqar, with the only exception being a commercial company that operates on the community’s outskirts. This inefficient practice contributes to high levels of water loss and water logging.

Many of the problems listed here are due to insufficient development of water management infrastructure. Such inefficiencies in irrigation infrastructure are especially problematic in a community dependent on a fossil water source. As can be witnessed in some other newly settled areas supported by government incentives and resettlement schemes, the government provided attractive intensives for settlement but subsequently failed to provide adequate infrastructure to enable settlers’ practice of efficient water management. In the irrigation command area of Bir 1, which became a case study area for the WaDImena research, farmers feel somewhat abandoned by the government. Indeed, the responsible authorities are situated 95 km of desert away in Farafra, and many promises of government assistance remain unfulfilled. For example, in order to keep the unlined canals functioning to their fullest capacity; they should optimally be cleaned every three to six months. Yet the government has consistently neglected its official responsibility to clean Abu Minqar’s canals at least once every 12 months, as in many areas this has not happened for years. The lack of maintenance only exacerbates the poor state of Abu Minqar’s waterways.

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III. INITIATING COMMUNITY-BASED WDM IMPROVEMENT

Through its 17 months of participatory research, the project team identified an immense problem-solving resource within the communities of Abu Minqar: the farmers themselves. The pioneer attitude the settlers carried to Abu Minqar comes with an enthusiasm for hard work and cooperation. If this resource is harnessed and supported, then the Bir 1 farmers can overcome their obstacle of distance from public services and realize their power to independently generate community improvement.

The project team thus assisted the foundation of a farmers' association in September 2007 with a focus on implementing agricultural water demand management improvements in Abu Minqar. The association started as a group of friends of all ages that met with the members of the DDC project team to talk about enhancing the irrigation and agricultural systems in the oasis. This new association was thus built upon the strengths of existing social networks and cooperation in Bir 1, invigorating civic activism to make sustainable improvements.

The project team kick-started the association's formation with a three-day workshop at the DDC's South Tahrir training center from September 8-10. The workshop program aimed to create a space in which the newly founded association's core group could organize its first action plan/s related to water management. The workshop also included day trips to the Delta village Kefr El-Sheikh, where SWERI (Soils, Water, and Environment Research Institute) runs a successful irrigation experimental and demonstration field project, and a trip to visit to the community association in the village of Lowa Sbeh in Farafra.

Over the three days of the workshop, the 12 participants were exposed to a variety of new, and locally appropriate, agricultural practices. The hands-on aspect of visiting a successful, neighboring association in Farafra as well as the demonstration and training fields at the DDC and SWERI helped the group engage with the lessons and inspired them to get the association's first activities off the ground. Before returning to Abu Minqar, the workshop participants put together a timeframe for tasks to tackle a number of their community's most pressing agricultural problems.

Upon their return, the workshop participants organized their own meetings in addition to those the project team facilitated, to get official registration and basic set-up started. Over the course of a month, the association made notable progress. The members produced a list of Bir 1 land holders and a map of their agricultural areas, new members signed up, and a general meeting was held to debate and vote on the amount, collection, and keeping of financial contributions and to elect association leaders – including a president, a steering committee of nine members and a financial committee of three. After only a few weeks, the association had recruited over 150 members, both male and female. The association’s members agreed to seek an official registration as an NGO with the New Valley Government in Kharga oasis. A committee was sent to Dakhla Oasis to collect the necessary papers, the issuing of which is still under way. Several members met with

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government officials from Abu Minqar and Farafra, with whom they assessed irrigation and drainage issues in the field and discussed plans for the association's first projects.

IV. CLEANING THE SECONDARY CANALS OF BIR 1 Ready to take its first step towards more sustainable water management, the association met on 1 October 2007 with the project team to get its first project underway – cleaning the area’s canals. In the Bir 1 irrigation command area, all but one waterway are unlined, resulting in overgrown weeds blocking speedy water flow and causing water losses of up to 50%. The association decided to borrow the required machine for canal cleaning, a 28-ton excavator, from the nearest local government, situated 100 km northeast in Farafra oasis. It would be the first time the association tested its wings, channeling its enthusiasm into planning, scheduling, and fundraising. Organizing and executing the canal cleaning, however, proved more challenging than expected. The local government in Farafra had offered to provide the excavator, given the association would provide accommodation and food for its driver. As for availability, however, the government did not make any concrete commitments. Magdy, the association’s president, visited the Farafra irrigation office to introduce the new farmers association and to organize borrowing the excavator for the canal cleaning project. But even after the visit, and three subsequent weeks of calling and waiting, the government had yet to set a date when Abu Minqar could use the excavator. The project team decided to use its resources and influence to convince the appropriate authorities of the area’s drastic state in hopes of speeding the process along. At a meeting with the Farafra government, the WaDImena Egypt team invited the irrigation officer to see the poor condition of Bir 1’s canals for himself. A day later, 25 Bir 1 association members showed and explained their needs, action plan, and enthusiasm directly to the government representative, who listened attentively. For the first time, the association used its united voice to successfully capture the regional government’s attention. The government immediately promised for the excavator to commence its work in Abu Minqar two weeks after the official’s visit. Excited about the new developments, the association pooled over 2,000 EGP pounds from the community to fund the cleaning project’s costs. Although this is a significant contribution given local economic conditions, it was not quite enough. The project team matched local funds with an equal contribution, so the budget for clearing the canal totaled 4,000 EGP. Ready to get started, the association and the project team called Farafra on the agreed date for the excavator, only to hear it would not be ready for another two weeks down the road. More false promises and re-scheduling followed as the end of November approached. Finally, on November 25, the project team paid the Farafra government another visit and found that the excavator was ready to be transported to Abu Minqar. But one “small” problem remained. The necessary driver was visiting family in Assyut, over

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350 km east, while the trailer to transport the machine to Abu Minqar was located in Kharga Oasis, 300 km southeast. The association members were getting increasingly impatient and soon decided that alternatives to government equipment would have to be sought. Driving along the road between Farafra, Abu Minqar, and Dakhla, the project team stopped every large-sized trailer they spotted; asking the driver if he could possibly transport the excavator. Unfortunately, due to the sheer size and weight of the excavator required for cleaning irrigation canals, trailers large enough were hard to come by. Finally, on November 28th, two months after the first request for an excavator, the association found a solution. Bricks had been delivered that day from Menya, and the trailer was still parked around the corner from the project house. The trailer was suited for the excavator and the driver agreed to pick up the excavator from Farafra the next day. Two days later, the association finally had its first project underway. Within only 12 days, all canals in the Bir 1 irrigation area totaling over 6 km were cleared and water was running significantly faster. The steering committee members took turns supervising the work and hosting the driver in their homes to cover accommodation costs. To our surprise, the support among association members and other farmers was overwhelming: whosever land the excavator was working near, the owner devoted his time and labor to assist the project, which ended up including unexpected repairs like refitting irrigation pipes, as underground infrastructure became much more accessible with an excavator. The cleaning project and its success did much more than improve water flow to farmers’ fields. In addition to leaving clearer dirt paths for carts and wagons, it empowered the community to practice cooperative planning and to be proactive to implement change. The experience with cleaning canals in Bir 1 also illustrates the obstacles and frustration development efforts, such as the project team’s, frequently face when coordinating with limited resources and various partners in a community-based initiative. At the same time, it shows how persistence and collective effort can overcome the stumbling blocks to implementing local community action and improvement in Egypt. Mastering the challenges connected with the canal cleaning project also gave the new farmers association credibility and the energy to tackle its next project in the plan to improve local water demand management: constructing a cement lining for a major secondary canal in Bir 1.

V. LINING A SECONDARY CANAL IN BIR WAHID In January and February 2008, the Farmers Association of Bir Wahid realized the second task of their action plan: lining a secondary canal in their irrigation command area. All secondary canals in Abu Minqar were previously unlined. After having cleaned 6km of secondary canals in the area in November and December 2007, the farmers association planned to further improve their irrigation infrastructure to reduce water wastage.

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During several association meetings, the farmers of Bir 1 discussed the location, appropriate design and time plan for the lining of the canal. Professor Hassan Shams-el-Din from SWERI, the Soils, Water and Environment Research Institute accompanied the research team to Abu Minqar to assess the irrigation infrastructure in the area and recommend strategies for the canal-building. The association and project team then used a participatory GPS-based map of the irrigation command area to decide which canal should be lined first. The canal lining costs were estimated at around 62,000 EGP for the 800m-long zarayeb canal, named after the bordering animal sheds of Um Abu Minqar village. The association’s members then gathered a total of 11,000 EGP from 22 of the 24 farmers who cultivate land along the selected canal, and the project team matched this amount with 51,000 EGP from the WaDImena Egypt project budget. The construction process would have to commence under pressing time constraints: in order to line a canal, the irrigation water would have to be blocked for the entire process so that the waterbed could dry. During the winter months, field crops can survive a period of up to eight weeks without irrigation. Finishing the canal lining within eight weeks or less was thus the challenge the association and project team faced. The project team and association arranged for the necessary building materials to be delivered from the most convenient places. A look at a map will show how inconvenient this actually was: the sand and cement from Farafra, the bricks from Menya, and the metal from Dakhla. Concerting the delivery of these materials proved to be a demanding task. The suppliers canceled or reported delays in the delivery, which frequently jeopardized the tight time plan for the canal lining. The association’s president and a handful of steering committee members had to constantly follow up with the suppliers and were occasionally forced to find replacements within short periods of time. This demanded networking, coordination and improvisation skills, and would have been impossible six months prior when mobile phone coverage did not extend to Abu Minqar. In late January, the association members worked for several days with the project team’s irrigation engineer Hassan Husseiny to properly level and slope the canal. The process was long, but went smoothly until the sand was delivered; the necessary equipment to create an even, 800-m long base was harder to come by in the farming community of 4,000 than the project team had anticipated. The necessary tools were simple shovels and hoes, and to supplement the low quantity available, community members and four hired workers used self-made tools. In early February, a construction company from Farafra oasis was hired to establish the canal’s concrete foundation. The brickwork was subsequently completed by a contractor from Abu Minqar. Logistics did not present the only difficulties. Two of the canal’s direct beneficiaries refused to financially contribute to the project. Owning plots closest to the water source, these two farmers would benefit the least from canal improvement. Fearful they would also protest blocking water from the canal, which is a necessary step for lining, the project team helped the association apply for government permission to block the water. Simultaneously, the association’s steering committee spoke and negotiated with the two

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who refused to contribute, gaining valuable experience in democratic community leadership and conflict resolution. Their efforts prompted the critics to pay once financially able to. On February 27, less than six weeks since their closure, the gates of the new zarayeb canal were re-opened. The event drew people from the entire irrigation command area together to watch. Despite the obstacles, the original timeframe had been followed - meaning crops did not suffer from blocking the water for construction. Adel, a Bir 1 farmer, exclaimed, “the water is running so well. Everybody here is very happy!” In turn, Magdy, the association’s president, quantified the extent of the impact. “It used to take four hours for water to reach my field, and now it only takes 20 minutes.” Seeing the finished canal even convinced the more skeptical farmers, who had initially labeled the association’s project proposals as “empty words”. Mohammad, who was suspicious of any development plans based on past disappointments with government initiatives, complimented the association on its achievement upon completion of the new canal. “The canal is only a first step. The real achievement is not the canal itself, but the association’s success. Now we have a way to improve Abu Minqar,” he said. The canal lining promises a significant reduction in water loss between the well and the fields, as water flows faster, weeds are blocked, and seepage is eliminated. It is also a success story that has inspired farmers in other command areas of Abu Minqar. Residents of Talaat Dargham village and Bir 5 approached the project team and Bir 1 association leaders asking them to assist with lining a canal in their own irrigation command area. The Bir 1 association was also excited to start its next project. “So when are we lining the next canal?” was one of the first questions the association’s president asked the project team after construction was completed.

VI. LINING A SECOND CANAL

In the name of the Farmers Association of Bir Wahid, the project team applied for small grant support from several Embassies in Cairo in January 2008. After a project visit in March, the German Embassy in Cairo granted 72,000 EGP to the Farmers Association of Bir Wahid in order to line a second irrigation canal in the cultivation area of Bir 1. The farmers chose an unlined, 620m-long secondary canal for improvement, located just opposite the first lined canal and leading away from one of the artesian wells that service the irrigation area. Lining began in May 2008, with significantly less time for completion (given the warmer weather and the crops’ increased demand for water), but much smoother proceedings. The association’s steering committee was able to build on experiences and established networks from the first canal lining project. The farmers were able to organize this second canal project almost single-handedly – apart from the leveling work that required help from DDC engineers. The project team deliberately left the association members “on their own” in managing this project in order to increase the association’s capacity. The canal was opened after four weeks and all farmers regarded the lining as a successful project – apart from a minor glitch when one farmer accidentally opened his irrigation gate too early, before the concrete had dried and 15

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meters of cement lining had to be renewed. Due to a natural slope of almost 4 meters, the water flow in this second lined canal is extraordinarily fast. Farmers joke that they now have to run at top speed in order to beat the water to the irrigation gates, in order to steer the flow towards the appropriate fields. Instead of four hours to reach the field, the water now takes 10 minutes and less.

VII. ASSESSMENT WORKSHOP IN SOUTH TAHRIR An assessment workshop of the collaboration between WaDImena and the Farmers Association of Bir Wahid was held over the 16th and 17th of June 2008, in the South Tahrir Station of the DDC. In a participatory monitoring approach, nine representatives of the farmers association (including its elected president) assessed the project’s application and impact and discussed its future plans. Over the second day of the workshop, the farmers took part in training on livestock production, horticulture and sustainable irrigation systems. The workshop was very successful in generating active participation. A facilitator from the Association for Training and Development, who led the participants through the first day of the event, managed to engage all attendants through focus groups, open debate, and brainstorming in an interactive discussion on their current situation, past objectives, and future projections. Importantly, the farmers attested to the success of the project as a whole and showed enthusiasm for further improving their irrigation area. Taking stock of their achievements, the association members noted that they had cleaned over 5km of irrigation canals, benefiting 360 feddan of farm land that had previously suffered from slow water flow and impure water. They also concluded that the lining of the two canals with a total of almost 1.5 km of brick and concrete lining, 46 new irrigation doors, and 6 masadat had benefited 100 feddan of land, owned by 50 families. Water loss had been significantly reduced as water now passes from the well to the agricultural fields in ten minutes, while it had previously taken between 2-4 hours. The effect of this, the farmers argued, should be an increase in cultivated area, crop yield, and a subsequent increase in standards of living. However, the projects’ benefits were even wider-reaching, as Magdy Mobarez, head of the farmer’s association stated, “We have become a trusted group; anything we suggest people are more likely to agree to, since this project went well we have gained people’s trust”. He went on to point out that participation levels in the project had been high, with 98% of the people contributing to the cleaning of the canals, 92% contributing to the lining of the first canal, and 80% contributing to the lining of the second. The lack of serious problems in the process of project application and the strong results had increased the community’s confidence in the association. The farmers stated that they were interested in working to acquire official status through legal channels so that they could have easier access to resources and a greater ability for independent action. In addition, their future plans included the creation of an agricultural and irrigational plot with alternative irrigation systems, possible in the form of a greenhouse. They argued that the biggest obstacles they were facing was their lack of

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legal standing and their distance from markets, which made it difficult to expand their scope with regards to selling agricultural produce. They also discussed possible avenues for future funding in order to improve the drainage system and were open to the idea of social development that targeted women (although the issue of gender equity was raised by the project team and was not necessarily seen as a priority by farmers).

VIII. BUILDING A SHADE HOUSE

In October 2008, engineers from the DDC collaborated with local farmers in establishing the first shade house in the oasis of Abu Minqar. The association still had some money left over from the small development grant it had obtained from the German Embassy in Cairo in March 2008. The shade house is constructed with a special shade net, is 32.47 meters long, 9 meters wide and 3 meters high. It is equipped with drip and sprinkler irrigation systems that are operated by a Diesel pump and that receive water daily outside the regular irrigation schedule for Bir 1. As the shade house required only about 15 minutes of water per day, the association’s steering committee successfully negotiated this water sharing arrangement with the elders who oversee the irrigation schedule. To assist the association, the WaDImena Egypt project provided 400 DDC-developed rootstock trees with particular aptitude for growing in desert conditions to be planted in the favorable micro climate of the shade house. Four hundred DDC-produced orange mother trees of the Valencia and Navel types are also nursed in the greenhouse and can provide the required buds for grafting. Grafted on the rootstocks, the orange buds will grow to become much more robust and profitable trees than existing local trees. Orange cultivation in Abu Minqar is marginal, although growing conditions in the oasis are extraordinarily favorable. With the rootstocks, the association is now able to graft and grow its own tree seedlings. In November 2008, the project team brought a DDC grafting specialist to Abu Minqar in order to hold a grafting training for local farmers. The three-hour workshop was open for any resident to attend, and was joined by 15 participants, most of whom were members of the Farmers Association of Bir Wahid. Surprisingly many young men participated in the training and showed considerable interest in the process of grafting. The Mayor of Abu Minqar also visited the training session and congratulated the farmers association on their achievements. During the training, all participants were given the opportunity to graft several trees themselves. The goal of the training was to provide members of the Farmers Association of Bir Wahid, who are in charge of maintaining the shade house and tree nursery, with the necessary skills to do so. Also, the project team hopes that the shade house can be used as a venue for teaching other local farmers how to operate drip and sprinkler systems and how to graft trees. The shade house is an important achievement for the Farmers Association of Bir Wahid, as it marks a physical presence in the oasis. The house can function as a meeting spot, demonstration plot, training center and as a location for exchanging knowledge and experience. The house also has an important showcase function: it demonstrates to local

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farmers that alternative irrigation systems can work in the oasis and can be installed at relatively affordable prices. With the tree seedlings, the association also has a sustainable source of income – seedlings can be sold locally and rootstocks can be reproduced in the shade house for future grafting and seedling production. Moreover, the shade house and local seedling production is an important step towards fostering citrus production in the oasis, which has been suffering from a lack of available, marketable citrus types. Citrus are less ephemeral than some other crops (such as for example tomatoes), are easy to transport and thus represent a viable crop for regional marketing. Abu Minqar farmers can also use their competitive advantage of being able to grow outside the ‘common’ growing season in the Nile Delta, due to the favorable climate. Being able to deliver agricultural products at times when they are unavailable in Cairo and the Delta gives farmers a considerable advantage in price negotiations.

IX. NETWORKSHING WITH POLICY MAKERS – A WORKSHOP AT THE AMERICAN UNIVERSTIY IN CAIRO

On December 2, 2008, the WaDImena Egypt research team organized a policy making and networking workshop as one of the project’s dissemination activities. The event aimed to foster cooperation between the community association, government representatives at local, regional and national levels as well as donor agencies. In order to stimulate dialogue among these different stakeholders, the project team organized the four-hour workshop that contained presentations by the farmers and the project team, as well as discussion among farmers, researchers and policy makers. The workshop was attended by 17 people, among them senior representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Irrigation, four farmers representing the Farmers Association of Bir Wahid, representatives from IDRC and GTZ (German Technical Cooperation), representatives of the local government in Farafra and Dakhla, New Valley researchers and DDC staff. The workshop engendered lively debate, which successfully involved all participants, and established personal contact between Abu Minqar farmers and government officials. The discussion brought out important issues regarding future policy and development directions for the New Valley, water management in the desert, sustainable use of the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer, and ways of integrating water management with economic and social development, agricultural enhancement and marketing strategies. The various participants also gave important strategic advice on how to move forward with the Farmers Association of Bir Wahid. Among the results of the discussion were the following:

• In order to make decisions about development in the Western Desert, one needs to know exactly how much water is available in the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer under the Western Desert of Egypt. Thus, networks between government agencies, researchers and farmers are necessary to exchange research results and incorporate knowledge into development strategies.

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• The senior government representatives showed themselves shocked at the lack of basic public services in the oasis of Abu Minqar. They acknowledged that the lack of adequate infrastructure stifles agricultural and community development in the oasis. The officials also complimented the members of the farmers association on their initiative and generally welcomed cooperation between community organizations and government departments.

• There seems to be an information gap between government agencies, research institutions and local organizations. The government of Egypt has conducted extensive research on the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer, however, access to the results of this research is difficult. Fostering partnerships between government agencies and local organizations is thus vital to spread this knowledge.

• The oases of the New Valley are in need of more structured crop development and production / marketing strategies. Farmers should consider cultivating more than just their own plot, grouping plots in order to sell larger amounts in bulk to contractors. The Farmers Association of Bir Wahid offers an excellent framework in which to organize such collaborative production. Know-how about crop types that sell and cooperation among farmers in using their competitive advantage for more profitable production and marketing needs to be generated. In the case of Abu Minqar, being able to produce agricultural crops outside of the national production seasons due to the climatic conditions in the oasis is a competitive advantage that should be used in more productive ways.

• The farmers association has to be officially recognized in order to be eligible for government funding as well as funding from development organizations.

• How can the Farmers Association of Bir Wahid proceed with its work in the oasis of Abu Minqar? Obtaining outside funding is necessary for continuing development work in the oasis. Associations that present themselves as water user associations may be eligible for types of money that is harder to access for agricultural or social organizations. The Farmers Association of Bir Wahid needs to consider their goals when framing their name and institutional direction. Expert opinions during the discussion suggest that it may be too limiting for the association at this point to call themselves water users association only.

• How to proceed with work in the oasis of Abu Minqar? Firstly, the Farmers Association of Bir Wahid should build on its experience and continue its successful work in the irrigation area of Bir 1. In extending the development initiative beyond the scope of the farmers association, there are different options. One option would be to build on the pilot project approach and its successes and extend the work to other irrigation areas in the oasis. A second option would be to try and scale up from the pilot phase approach in Abu Minqar and approach wider policies of desert reclamation, resettlement and desert development in Egypt. Maybe an approach that integrates both options – seeking to continue work in other irrigation areas of Abu Minqar while using the Abu Minqar experience to improve wider scale desert development policy may be the best way ahead.

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X. LEARNING FROM THE WADIMENA EXPERIENCE

The Bir 1 association’s success demonstrates the importance of preliminary social research, participatory work, and empowered, local involvement to advance sustainable development. Understanding the systems and contexts of agriculture and water management in Abu Minqar, along with months of establishing trust between the project team and the community through rapport building are what enabled the founding of an effective farmers association. This process prompted the project team’s knowledge of and respect for the community’s interests, concerns, abilities, and obstacles. Similarly, it created trust in the project team among community members.

The project team did not select farmers to serve on the association’s steering committee based on its impressions of individuals’ capabilities and enthusiasm. Instead, it let community members with decades of knowing their neighbors decide, which resulted in a group of locally-trusted and selected leaders who work well together, and whose experience, enthusiasm, and work ethic would get things done and pull the association through obstacles.

Furthermore, through the adopted participatory approach to research and development activities, the residents of Abu Minqar saw that the project team’s intentions coincided with theirs. In turn, they contributed their time, energy, money, and trust to the project team’s research and development efforts. For example, when the community pooled money, it was placing faith in an unprecedented activity. This faith was based on visibility of the project team’s commitment to Abu Minqar.

Steering committee elections were a smooth and democratic process. Writing their votes on slips of paper, community members came to a quick consensus. All meetings the project team attended proceeded in a similar fashion – attendees freely spoke their minds and respected and seriously considered all opinions voiced. As to be anticipated in a diverse group, however, some initial disputes concerning culturally-based exclusion arose. Most farmers of Bir 1 are the oasis’s original settlers and are ethnic Upper Egyptians from Dakhla oasis. They form the association’s majority. Upper Egyptians who migrated directly from the Nile Valley and Bedouins, on the other hand, form the minorities. Shortly before elections, two enthusiastic association members approached the project team saying they had been excluded from meetings due to their Nile Valley origins. At the subsequent meetings, project team members raised the issue on their behalf, and association members discussed it. The dispute was quickly resolved, and from that point the association consistently involved individuals from all backgrounds in its activities.

The project team faced another issue concerning fair inclusion. It practiced gender mainstreaming techniques and involved women in the participatory research activities, such as community mapping and informal interviews, whenever possible. However, involving women in most activities of the project’s intervention stage proved challenging. Although association leaders collected signatures from some women when soliciting membership and support, women were not involved in association meetings or project

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planning. Local custom restricts women from attending association meetings, which were held at mostly night time at shifting homes of association members. Thus, only men were able to vote on association leadership, funding schemes, and project planning. By consequence, no women took part in the two workshops held with the association’s steering committee in South Tahrir. Furthermore, the projects’ focus on irrigation improvement is something designated as men’s responsibility. Yet women were indirectly involved in some projects. During the canal construction activities, for example, they prepared daily meals for people working on the project, from both within and outside the oasis. The project team, however, believes greater involvement of women in community-based initiatives is an essential goal for future projects in Abu Minqar.

Furthermore, the project team noticed a disparity in commitment among association members. Although a variety of farmers volunteered their time in addition to money, it became increasingly apparent that only a handful of members drove the completion of canal construction. Day in and day out that handful (one of whom even had no land along the zarayeb canal) worked tirelessly during the project. The project team assumed all project beneficiaries would volunteer their labor daily to keep costs down given the tight budget; yet few volunteered and to meet the project deadline, local labor had to be hired at 20 EGP per day per worker. It seems natural that some members would be more involved than others in a volunteer organization, and this has not yet proven problematic. Nonetheless, the scenario highlights the importance of engaging proactive and civic-minded individuals in forming a community association, the success of project-related work in developing leadership skills and a project success’s reliance on volunteerism. The existence of some freeloaders, on the other hand, is a seemingly inevitable occurrence in most community projects.

XI. REMAINING RESEARCH GAPS The project experience has generated a number of questions that require additional research in Abu Minqar. First, on an infrastructural level, as canal improvement projects have significantly reduced the water lost to evaporation and seepage, what will come of the perceived “excess” of water? It is likely that farmers will irrigate more land during the summer, increasing their total yield. But where will this land be – perhaps closer to residential areas, increasing women’s role in water demand management? And is there appropriate demand to meet the resulting increased supply? In winter, on the other hand, there has been an “excess” of available water for irrigation in Bir 1 in past years. The sub-standard drainage system already causes soil salinity and water logging problems. With more water in the drainage system, will such damage increase, and how will farmers manage this? Second, as long as the artesian well is not switched off, or its water not directed into a storage unit, the amount of useable water will show an increase from previous seasons. Bir 1 runs on a 24-hour system of water distribution assuming a set volume of water according to the season. How will this change with a greater volume of useable water

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within a 24-hour period? Moreover, farmers currently measure units of water in hours, and have arrangements to rent and share water hours. Along the newly lined canal, a water hour will now be more voluminous than a water hour in other parts of the command area. How will the farmers of Bir 1 manage this change?

XII. FUTURE PROJECTS The Farmers Association of Bir Wahid developed a list of community improvement projects and goals at its workshop in September 2007, and continues to show enthusiasm to tackle them. In addition to continuing to clean and line canals, the association hopes to improve the drainage system, reuse excess irrigation water in winter, and develop an experiment and demonstration plot for more efficient irrigation techniques, such as drip and sprinkler irrigation. Goals also include experiments with more desert-appropriate, productive, and marketable crop varieties and livestock breeds. Integrating women into the association’s work remains a critical area for future research and intervention. One approach would be to learn from a community association operating in Farafra oasis that involves women in projects handling education, childcare, and handicraft production. A project could use those lessons to supplement ideas from Abu Minqar’s women to develop a community-based framework for direct women’s participation in and benefit from association activities. An idea that emerged at the assessment workshop in South Tahrir was the construction of a cheese factory in the oasis, possibly utilizing alternative energy to power the required machines. Home cheese production is a task traditionally carried out by women in Abu Minqar. Thus operating a cheese factory would be a project that could include, or even by led by, the association’s female members. Marketing the cheese beyond the oasis would also enhance the local economic performance and extend employment opportunities outside the immediate agricultural sector. The DDC project team will continue to assist the association in seeking funding for this venture. A crucial step towards achieving these goals is establishing the association as a self-sustaining body. The association is still in its infancy, and the steering committee, though much more experienced now than in the fall, lacks the capacity to generate adequate funding for projects. The association’s leaders still need significant assistance to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to independently approach donors, network with other non-governmental organizations in the area, and approach local governments for project support. While gradually decreasing its involvement, the Desert Development Center (the project team’s home institution) hopes to provide the association with such necessary support, networks, and training, but also requires outside funding to support its work with such a distant location as Abu Minqar. Devising a means to keep the Bir 1 association active is thus the most pressing next step.

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VIII. PICTURE GALLERY Top left: The “Farmers Association of Bir Wahid” meets in the oasis Center left: Canal cleaning: the excavator at work in Bir 1 Bottom left: Building the sand base for the new canal Top right: Official visitor – the association’s members explain the irrigation problems they face to an engineer from the local government in Farafra, who had been invited to meet with the association in Abu Minqar Bottom right: A satisfactory end result – the newly lined canal in Bir 1

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Top row: The shade house is being erected Second row: Local farmers make the house’s door (left); the irrigation system is working! (right) Third row: The trees have arrived (left); plant grafting workshop (right) Bottom row: Young farmers learn how to graft (left); full view of shade house (right)

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IX. REFERENCES

Dabous, A. A. and Osmond, J. K. "Uranium Isotopic Study of Artesian and Pluvial Contributions to the Nubian Aquifer, Western Desert, Egypt." Journal of Hydrology 243 (2001): 242-253. Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation. The Ground Water Sector Plan (2001). Cairo. Robinson, C. A., Werwer, A., El-Baz, F., El-Shazly, M., Fritch, T. and Kusky, T. "The Nubian Aquifer in Southwest Egypt." Hydrogeology Journal. 15 (2007): 33-45. Wallin, B., Gaye, C., Gourcy, L. and Aggarwal, P. "Isotope Methods for Management of Shared Aquifers in Northern Africa." Ground Water 43.5 (2005): 744-749.