Options for improving irrigation water efficiency for sustainable agricultural development

2 October 2019. Cairo. IFPRI/ICARDA/IWMI/WorldFish seminar. Options for improving irrigation water efficiency for sustainable agricultural development. The IFPRI-Egypt Seminar Series is part of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded project called “Evaluating Impact and Building Capacity” (EIBC) that is implemented by IFPRI. The seminar supports USAID’s Agribusiness for Rural Development and Increasing Incomes (ARDII) project’s objectives.

Water is an essential resource for the wellbeing of people, the economy and the planet. Growing water scarcity, increased weather variability due to climate change and deteriorating water quality pose significant challenges for all countries around the world, including Egypt.

Agriculture consumes about 86% of the water in Egypt and improving irrigation efficiency and productivity are widely seen as an important way to foster sustainable agricultural development and food production.

This seminar provided an overview and lessons learnt of international success stories, discussed ongoing and planned initiatives in Egypt and the role that research can play for a sustainable water future from a private and public sector perspective.

Speakers

(Video presentations forthcoming on the IFPRI website)

• Claudia Ringler, Deputy Director of Environment and Production Technology Division, IFPRI (live video conference)
• Amgad Elmahdi, Head of the MENA Office, International Water Management Institute (IWMI)
• Jacques Wery, Deputy Director General Research, ICARDA - “Improving biophysical and socio-economic water productivity with cropping systems management and diversification”
• Ahmed Nasr-Allah, Scientist, World Fish
• Yasser Elshayeb Chief of Party, Center of Excellence for Water, The American University in Cairo
• Kamel Amer, Head of Arab Organization for Agricultural Development, Regional Office in Cairo, The League of Arab States
• Nisreen Lahham, Senior Advisor for Sustainable Water Policy, GIZ
• Alaa El-Bably, Director of Soils, Water and Environment Research Institute (SWERI) - MoALR