For the DDC’s founding in 1979, the Egyptian government leased 600 feddan (578 acres or 1,428 hectares) in South Tahrir and 26 feddan (25 acres or 62 hectares) in Sadat City to AUC, both of which are off the Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road. Over the last two and a half decades, the DDC has developed these sites into centers for horticulture, animal husbandry, land analysis, desert settler training projects, and related research.
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Sadat City
Sadat City is a planned industrial city with some farming space, situated 90km in the desert northwest of Cairo in Minufia Governorate. Since its establishment in the 1970s, Sadat City has experienced rapid industrial and residential growth.
The DDC’s Sadat City research station has also grown significantly since 1979. In addition to 26 feddan (25 acres or 62 hectares) of crops, greenhouses, and rabbit production units, DDC facilities include a tissue culture laboratory and soil, plant, nematode, and water analysis laboratories. DDC staff use the laboratories daily to conduct 1,800 analyses each year for regional desert farmers.
The station was architecturally designed to embody sustainable development principles. Combining indigenous desert architectural techniques, such as constructing domes that trap heat above rooms, with modern practices, such as a double-wall cooling system, the station's design uses its surrounding environment, rather than air conditioning, to maintain comfortable temperatures and reduce energy needs. The station is also equipped with solar panels and a wind turbine, making it a self-sustaining an ecologically friendly construction.
The accomplishments at the Sadat City station speak for the impact DDC work has and continues to achieve. One major success has been the identification of two fast-growing Australian pine species, the Casuarina glauca and cunninghamiana trees, as an ideal windbreak for dry and saline desert soil. After growing an eight-acre experimental forest at the South Tahrir station, DDC researches found that when these species are inoculated with the nitrogen-fixing francia bacterium, they add nutrients to the surrounding soil, making it more fertile for other crops. Today almost all New Lands desert farms use these trees to protect their fields from wind and blowing sand.
South Tahrir
South Tahrir, home to the DDC’s largest station, is situated in the agricultural governorate of Buheira, 150km northwest of Cairo.
The DDC station in South Tahrir uses its 600 feddan (578 acres or 1,428 hectares) for agricultural experiments, demonstrations, and training. Its facilities include a dairy processing plant, beekeeping area, silkworm production unit, livestock facilities, greenhouses and fields for horticultural projects, and a sample windbreak forest.
In addition, the station’s main office shares a compound with the DDC Training Center: two dormitories with over 100 beds; a lecture hall; and a cafeteria built to feed 100. Training desert settlers is a major endeavor of the DDC. Over a thousand men and women annually learn from DDC faculty and engineers the practicalities of sustainable desert agriculture. Course topics range from citrus cultivation and pruning techniques to marketing and rural women’s skills.
Like its Sadat City counterpart, the South Tahrir station buildings were designed to be energy efficeint, self-sustaining, and ecologically friendly. To determine the appropriate methods to acheive such a design, an eco-house was constructed on-site to test and demonstrate various practices. The DDC thus provides a living example of sustainable desert home architecture.
Regular South Tahrir activities include grafting and maintaining seedlings as well as managing citrus production and livestock. Moreover, a current project is the cultivation of over 7,000 trees for AUC’s New Campus.
Recent project success stories, such as the identification of ideal cattle breeds and citrus rootstocks, can be found under the research section of the website.