Irrigating democracy

An EU funded farming project highlights cooperation, reports Mustafa El-Menshawy

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To establish an economically viable and environmentally sustainable farming system for small holders on reclaimed desert land is not an easy task. Limited water resources, non cultivable land and manpower, to cite but a few of constraints in these newly-resettled communities.

The European Commission delegation in Egypt has spent seven years, not to mention nine million euros, on a 90,000 feddan pilot project aimed at establishing a model for viable and sustainable small hold farming on reclaimed desert land.

The Bustan Agricultural Development Project (BADP) in West Nubariya, south of Alexandria, was originally scheduled for five years but following problems encountered in ensuring sustainability it was extended in December 2004.

Initially focussing on irrigation and drainage infrastructure the project evolved to encompass improved water management, with project officials convinced that more efficient irrigation techniques would require farmers to run their own affairs on a collective basis.

"With an eye on improving water management and self-organisation the project helped establish 47 Water User Unions (WUUs) in the Bustan area, each with its own general assembly elected by members every two years," said Manuel Ancillotti, the project's chief technical adviser.

The WUUs oversee the management and distribution of water and the maintenance of irrigation facilities.

"The farmers now have the right to elect the board members of these unions and replace them if they are not as effective as expected," Ancillotti told Al-Ahram Weekly during a field visit to the project.

It was at first hard to get the farmers used to receiving instructions from "those high up in the water management hierarchy, and the farmers would try to secure as much water as possible for their own fields without caring about the bigger picture," says Ancillotti. Now, though, they calculate how much water they need and join forces to maintain irrigation facilities on a team-work basis, he added.

"It is a great leap forward and provides a model to overcome a major weakness in the Egyptian agriculture sector -- namely a flawed hierarchy allowing farmers no participation in running their own affairs," says Gerard Meunier, in charge of the monitoring and evaluation unit of the project.

The new system has freed 13 million cubic metres of water every year -- enough to irrigate an additional area of 2000 feddans.

"After the establishment of the WUUs in the village the farmers began to feel a sense of stability. They can get water on a regular basis and without squabbling over who should irrigate first," says Abdel-Aziz Abdel-Qader, secretary of the WUU in the village of Tawfiq Al-Hakim.

Abdel-Qader prides himself on the fact that he was elected to the post by a majority of votes a year and a half ago. And while some members of his board are illiterate, he says, they are perfectly capable of handling the problems facing the WWU.

"The lessons learnt in the Bustan project had been gathered in The Replication of WUUs Manual so that the methodology can be applied in projects in other areas of Egypt," reveals Ancillotti.

In addition to water management the project addressed gender issues in the development process, training women to manage enterprises and build up capital. Over a hundred home-based enterprises, including chicken, rabbit and goat rearing, bakery and dairy production units, have been established.

Women organised themselves into local NGOs on a village level to oversee development activities that include nurseries, literacy classes, health campaigns and single-class schools for female dropouts.

Yet despite the success obstacles remain, not least in marketing the farmers' products. Many inhabitants complain they have only limited access to EU markets. Egypt's agricultural exports to the EU represent only seven per cent of overall exports. EU officials say that part of the problem is that products allowed into the 25-member bloc must meet strict EU quality standards.

Some farmers have voiced fears that the project might begin to unravel once it is taken over by the Ministry of Agriculture at the end of this month. Officials from NGOs created by the project say they still need running capital to maintain services, many of which are offered free of charge.

More than six million euros, reserved by the project for contingencies will, say EU officials, now be offered as soft loans to small holders.