Mid-project evaluation of the Egypt water use and management project

Special evaluation covers the period 9/76-11/80 and is based on document review; interviews with Government of Egypt (GOE), contractor, and USAID/E personnel; and site visits. Although progress has been constrained by inappropriate or delayed provision of technical assistance and equipment, excellent success has been achieved in some areas. A multidisciplinary Egyptian water management study team, having received over 178 person-months of training, is conducting what is apparently the only on-farm research with good farmer cooperation in Egypt. Relationships between the contractor and the Egyptian team have been excellent, although the Egyptians have questioned the contractor's extensive use of short-term advisors. In three pilot areas, Mansouriyah, Kafr-El-Sheikh, and Minya, the team has completed water budget studies which have provided valuable data on current constraints to on-farm water management. Field trials in precision land leveling and long furrows were delayed but have now begun. Initial crop management experiments, although important in building farmer confidence and producing remarkable yield increases, were irrelevant to project purposes per se; the focus of these experiments has now been modified. The project's major shortfall has been its failure to demonstrate yield increases strictly from changes in water management. Due to the contractor's lack of a results-oriented attitude, planned canal trials have not begun, making it impossible for the project to fully achieve all outputs. In addition, project findings have not been disseminated to Egyptian agencies. Pilot testing will now begin at three project sites to establish prototype irrigation delivery system technologies. A detailed action program is outlined. Recommendations are to continue the project and to expand its purposes to include labor savings, cost reductions, and water savings.