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Add to Preferred SourcesClimate-smart agriculture (CSA) aims to facilitate the evolution of agricultural systems in the face of a rapidly changing climate. IFAD’s approach to promoting CSA for smallholders focuses on three core objectives: increasing yields and incomes in a sustainable manner; building adaptive capacity and resilience, and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.
Climate-smart interventions have the potential to soften the devastating blows that climate change could inflict on the agricultural sector in Egypt. By 2030, the country is likely to experience annual mean temperature increases ranging from 1.2 to 2.0°C above pre-industrial levels, with increases soaring from 1.6 to 2.9°C by 2050 and from 1.8 to 5.2°C by 2085.
Additionally, research has found that the flow of the Nile, which dictates the prosperity of Egypt’s agriculture, will become more erratic as a result of climate change. As a result, projections suggest that yields of staple crops could stagnate and dwindle. By 2040, wheat yields are expected to decline by 12 percent, vegetables by 28 percent, maize by 47 percent and rice by 26 to 47 percent.
Since 1980, IFAD has financed 13 projects in Egypt, amounting to a total of US$842 million, with IFAD financing accounting for US$456 million of that total. Currently, the portfolio in Egypt consists of four ongoing projects which collectively amount to US$380 million.
IFAD’s new project in Upper Egypt where poverty is rampant. With a focus on rehabilitating old lands, the project aims to target 50,000 rural households, increasing the incomes and water-use efficiency of at least half of them. Furthermore, the project aims to ensure that 25,000 hectares are farmed using a climate-resilient water supply. The project will open the door to grant or highly concessional finance for irrigation equipment, greenhouses, shelterbelts, protective fencing and many other climate-smart interventions, deploying the tools of digital agriculture to facilitate sustainability and cost-efficiency.
Original source: IFAD
Published on 21 June 2019