Egypt: Irrigation Innovations in the Nile Delta

Egypt depends almost exclusively on the Nile River for its water supply. Of this, 85 percent is used for irrigation. As with the rest of the world, the country's water demands are ever growing. For Egypt, the solution lies in making better use of the Nile's existing flows. To do so, the most viable solution is to make the current irrigation system more efficient--while being responsive to farmers' needs.

In order to address the country's growing water demands, Egypt has adopted innovate approaches to make better use of the Nile's existing flows.

In collaboration with the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI), the World Bank, the German aid agency, KfW, and the government of the Netherlands developed the Integrated Irrigation Infrastructure Management Project (IIIMP). The strength of the new approach is that its engineering and institutional innovations complement and reinforce each other. Involving farmer groupings in the management of the new pumping and water control systems means that water gets to the right field at the right time, thus boosting crop yields and farmers' incomes.