Ouda, S., H. Farag, A. M. Taha and T. Noreldin. ( 2016). Assessment of Drip Irrigation System for Maize to Reduce Food, Water and Energy Insecurity in Egypt. . 4th African Regional ICID Conference (ARCID). 24-28 April.
Abstract: Maize is an important crop for the Egyptian national economy, because it is a source of human food and feed. However, the crop consumed large amount of water, as a result of being a summer crop and growing under surface irrigation with 60% application efficiency. This paper discussed the effect of changing maize cultivation methods to raised beds and to change irrigation system to drip in 17 governorates in Egypt on potential maize production, saved water and saved energy. Maize cultivated area and production were obtained from Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation. Weather data for 10 years from 2004 to 2013 was used to calculate applied water in each governorate under surface irrigation, raised beds and drip system using BISm model. Potential maize yield and potential saved water under raised beds and drip system was calculated, as well as water productivity (kg/m3) and energy productivity (kg/kW). The results showed that irrigated maize with drip system saved irrigation water, increase water productivity, energy productivity, compared to surface irrigation and raised beds cultivation. The results also showed that maize production under drip system reduced production-consumption gap from 45% under surface irrigation to12%. Furthermore, 33% of the used energy in surface irrigation was saved under drip irrigation. Although changing surface irrigation to drip system involves cost for implementation and maintenance, which could not be handled by poor farmers, the government of Egypt should bear the cost to reduce food gap, as well as reduce water and energy scarcity.
Keywords: (Water productivity, energy use efficiency, raised beds cultivation, maize production-consumption gap.)
