University unveils desert development project

With the Nile Delta bursting at the seams with the vast majority of Egypt's 81 million people, scientists at the provincial University of Mansoura believe it is high time to reclaim large stretches of the desert. The Delta-based public university has unveiled an ambitious plan to increase arable land in the country by more than 20%.

Most Egyptians live on an estimated area of 40,000 square kilometres out of the country's largely-desert 1,010,000 square kilometers.

"The project is based on growing around 1,000 types of plants that tolerate drought and salt along Egypt's Northern Coast and Sinai [in the eastern part of the country]," said Adel al-Hadeedi, a professor at the University of Mansoura.

Al-Hadeedi, who is also a member of the state-run Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, added that the project aimed to use large quantities of alluvium held by the man-made High Dam in southern Egypt.

According to him, the alluvium would be transported to desert areas and would be used as topsoil to make the land cultivable. "Removing the alluvium will also protect the dam from the potential danger of collapse under the pressure of this mud that has been accumulating since the dam was built in 1962," he explained.

In the 1990s, the government of former President Hosni Mubarak embarked on building a valley in the southern part of Egypt with the aim of easing demographic pressure on Nile Delta. But the project costing billions of Egyptian pounds was suspended during Mubarak's final years in power among accusations of poor planning and wasting public money.

Authors of the University of Mansoura project argue that their scheme is well planned and depends on using saltwater and groundwater to irrigate non-traditional crops in the desert.

The crops include Salicornia, a species whose seeds contain high levels of unsaturated oil. According to specialists, Salicornia can be used to produce animal feed and as a biofuel feedstock.

Another plant suggested for the project is the Jatropha, which is resistant to drought and pests and is a promising source of biofuel. "Jatropha produces seeds containing oil which is environmentally friendly. On burning, it results in carbon dioxide four times less than that resulting from conventional oil," said Al-Hadeedi.

"Our project also includes growing medicinal and aromatic plants in the reclaimable desert. This can be the basis of an industrial activity for packaging and processing that lends the project an added value," he told Egypt's semi-official newspaper Al Ahram.

Another focus of the project is to build a network of roads linked to the country's airports to export the products.

"This project is basically conceived to boost national development as it is bound to promote agri-business and lure the people away from the confines of the Nile Delta to re-settle in hitherto sparsely-inhabited areas of Egypt," Al-Hadeedi explained.

He believes the sustainability of the project should prompt the Egyptian government to set up an ad hoc panel comprising specialists in development from the nation's universities, agricultural research centres and ministries of industry, oil and transport.

No comment has yet been forthcoming from the government appointed by Egypt's military rulers last month.