Background

Why a Desert Development Center?

New Lands for a New Future
It is commonly stated that about 97% of the Egyptian population lives on just 3% of the land. Virtually all habitation and agricultural production take place in the Nile Valley and Delta, reflecting the fact that the Nile is the essential source of renewable water resources in the country. Egypt has long had one of the most intransigent poverty problems in the Mediterranean basin. Although the official per capita GNP passed the US$ 1,200 mark in 1998 and thus elevated the country out of the ranks of the world’s poorest nations, income was not evenly distributed. About 86% of the population shared only 26% of the GNP, while 74% of GNP was received by only 14% of the people. This means that, on average, 86% of Egyptians had an average per capita GNP of only US$392, close to the World Bank poverty line of US$1 per day. Egypt’s population has continued its rapid growth. Unemployment is a chronic problem. Prime agricultural land in the valley and delta is disappearing at a rate of about 30,000 ha (or 1% of total arable land) a year to new constructions and other uses. Average farm size in the old lands is shrinking to a point below which it is impossible to provide adequate incomes.

Almost fifty years ago, Egypt began its first large scale desert development project in an effort to create new land for poverty-stricken farmers and peasants. The new area was located in the desert just west of the Nile delta, and it became famous as “ Liberation Province” (mudariyat Tahrir). Fraught with technical, political, and financial problems, the early desert development efforts gave disappointing results and did not live up to their promises of improved agriculture, increased incomes, and better lives for the many thousands of households who have moved to the new lands. Despite these disappointments, public and private efforts to make the desert bloom and provide improved incomes for new desert communities have accelerated. By the end of the 20th Century, reclaimed desert land represented fully 20% of Egypt’s cultivated land. Experience shows that it can take many years before reclaimed desert land can reach the productivity levels of rich valley and delta soils, but scores of thousands of New Land settlers still view themselves as pioneers on a new agricultural frontier that will provide their families with a better future. It was upon this vision that the Desert Development Center was founded.

A Center of Excellence for Desert Development

The Desert Development Center (DDC) was established in 1979 by the American University in Cairo as a center of excellence in applied research and training to promote sustainable development in Egypt’s reclaimed desert areas. The DDC maintains an extensive program of research, training, and informational activities to meet its objectives increasing the productivity and incomes of desert settlers while conserving and enhancing the natural resource base of the desert environment. In addition to working directly with communities, the DDC operates two research stations on desert land where experiments are conducted, technologies are evaluated, and demonstrations are maintained. The DDC has an outstanding residential training facility with a capacity for 150 men and women at its South Tahrir Research Station. There are analytical laboratories and nurseries at the Sadat City Research Station. DDC research programs include a wide range of academic disciplines, from the natural and social sciences through applied fields such as construction and environmental engineering, agriculture, management and planning, and architecture.  The DDC trains about 1,000 desert settlers in its courses on sustainable agricultural practices each year, with another 500 or so university students receiving specialized training as part of their academic work.

The philosophy of the DDC is that sustainable desert development requires adaptation to desert environmental conditions - treating the desert as a desert. To this end, the DDC has developed desert living solutions that integrate renewable energy sources, efficient water management, and appropriate agricultural techniques to improve productivity while enhancing soil fertility. The DDC has conducted extensive socioeconomic research among desert communities and especially with new desert settlers to identify technical and socioeconomic problems faced by individuals and their communities. The results of these enquiries are being used to seek practical solutions to real problems faced by desert communities. As well as testing and adapting new technology appropriate to sustainable desert development, the DDC has developed human and natural resource management solutions for problems faced by a diversity of stakeholders.