Final administrative report : Egypt water use and management project, contract no. AID/NE-C-1351

The project succeeded in developing improved irrigation and water control practices and in identifying promising methods for implementing irrigation projects. All six planned targets were met. (1) Major constraints to optimum water use (including inefficient water delivery scheduling, defects in irrigation structures, the poor condition of small drains, and farmer"s lack of knowledge of actual soil moisture content) were identified. (2) Optimal irrigation practices (e.g., crop management, irrigation scheduling, basin irrigation design, border and furrow irrigation, and precision land-leveling) were developed and successfully introduced to farmers in representative pilot areas. (3) Improved water control practices for delivery and drainage systems were formulated and tested. These improvements were in four subject areas: system design methods and specifications; the design, installation, and maintenance of hydraulic structures; water course improvement alternatives; and alternative management schemes and organizations. (4) Means of organizing and implementing similar but expanded irrigation programs were investigated, based on analysis of farmers" reactions to different methods of introducing new farming and water management practices. It is proposed that an Irrigation Advisory Service be established to provide farmers with TA and to help organize water user associations; such an organization was in fact established under the project, but questions as to who should administer it have not been resolved. Also, understanding was gained as to the institutional, cultural, and economic constraints to applying project findings on a regional scale. (5) Both U.S. and field training in on-farm water management were provided to Egypt scientists and technicians; this included U.S. 1-year academic training for 21 persons, U.S. short-term training for 40, a 7-week in-country training program (now fully indigenized) for all project staff and for officials of the Ministry of Irrigation (MOI) and the Ministry of Agriculture, and on-the-job training. (6) The MOI"s institutional capacity has been strengthened through an exchange agreement with a U.S. irrigation project, seminars, and annual U.S. observation tours, as well as through the training programs mentioned above.