Egypt: Bank Financing for Irrigation, Railroads

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved two new loans for Egypt in support of two projects: Farm-level Irrigation Modernization Project ($ 100 million) and additional financing for the Egypt National Railways Restructuring Project ($ 330 million).

Farm-level Irrigation Modernization Project (FIMP)

Agriculture remains vital in Egypt employing 30% of the country’s workforce and supporting 55% of the population even as agriculture’s share of GDP falls in a diversifying economy. On December 14, 2010, the World Bank approved a US$ 100 million loan to support Egypt’s Farm-level Irrigation Modernization Project (FIMP).

The project underpins the Government of Egypt’s (GoE) Strategy of Sustainable Agricultural Development 2030, in the first phase of a longer-term national program to modernize irrigation on 5 million feddans (a feddan equals about 0.42 hectare). The project aims to increase agricultural profitability and improve access to higher-quality water for around 140,000 small-scale farmers on 200,000 feddans in the command areas of Mahmoudia, Manaifa and Meet Yazid, located in the Nile Delta.

The project comprises two components. The first component supports marwa (farm-level ditches) and farm-level irrigation modernization in the command areas noted above. In these locations, branch canal and mesqa (tertiary channels that receive water from branch canals) improvements have been carried out or are currently ongoing.

The second component of the project aims to enhance farmer knowledge and the associated land improvement and crop production technologies. The project includes a new approach to the delivery of services by the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation that is based on working with farmer's groups on participatory planning and project implementation.