Addressing soil salinity important to safeguard Egypt agriculture, economy

Soil salinity threatens agricultural productivity across 30–35 percent of Egypt’s irrigated land, over 1.8 million hectares, worsening water scarcity and undermining rural livelihoods in a sector that contributes 13–14 percent of GDP and employs one-fifth of the workforce, according to the final Salinity Roadmap Egypt report released on Wednesday.

The study, prepared by Dutch firms Delphy and The Salt Doctors for the Netherlands embassy in Cairo and the Netherlands Food Partnership, identified four main causes of salinity: irrigation-driven salinity in the central and southern Nile Delta, drainage and groundwater-driven salinity in the northern Delta, coastal and climate-related salinity along the Delta’s Mediterranean coast, and natural geogenic salinity in oases and desert areas. 

These problems are being worsened by climate change, including sea-level rise and higher evaporation rates.

Despite ongoing investments in land reclamation and drainage, the report said fragmented efforts, weak coordination, and limited monitoring continue to hinder progress, undermining Egypt’s goal of building a high-productivity, export-oriented, and environmentally sustainable agricultural sector.