Most of Egypt's land is in a semi-desert or desertified state, with only about 3% of the land being arable Nile River plains, insufficient to meet the needs of Egypt's 100 million population, with nearly half of its food needs being imported.
This presents Egypt with a stark reality:
The issue isn't the lack of land but that deserts are simply unsuitable for agriculture.
To turn deserts green, the key lies in bringing freshwater from the Nile River for greening.
To cautious observers, this idea might seem like an unrealistic fantasy. However, those who pursue development see a glimmer of hope in the success of China's greening efforts in the Mu Us Desert!
The Mu Us Desert in China covers an area of 42,000 square kilometers, with a greening rate of over 90%. Compared to Egypt's deserts near the Nile River basin, there is immense hope for desert reclamation through the "Retreat of the Sands, Greening of the Land" initiative.
China's greening of the Mu Us Desert was primarily carried out by voluntary efforts of civilians over decades.
Despite the absence of water sources, the greening process was exceptionally challenging. However, Egypt's deserts near the Nile River have water support, so why can't they be transformed into oases?
It's for this reason that the Egyptian government sees the benefits of creating small canals (artificial channels for irrigation) from the annual revenue of about 8-9 billion US dollars from the Suez Canal.
A massive dam was constructed near Lake Nasser in the Tushka Bay, and a canal spanning over 280 kilometers was built to create 9,000 square kilometers of arable land, equivalent to a quarter of the greening area in the Mu Us Desert.
This is known as the "New Valley Project," with a total investment of approximately 86.5 billion US dollars, equivalent to the total investment of two Three Gorges Projects, truly remarkable!
Compared to China's greening project in the Mu Us Desert, which covered over 40,000 square kilometers and was primarily supported by long-term voluntary efforts of civilians, with a total investment of only 8 billion RMB, the greening process did not receive significant government funding, with less than 1 billion RMB provided.
In other words, the total investment in greening the Mu Us Desert was less than 1.2 billion US dollars, compared to Egypt's plans for desert reclamation, where the investment is less than 1/70th, highlighting a vast disparity!
The greening of the Mu Us Desert was not a national project but the result of several volunteers' long-term efforts to combat desertification.
Their spirit of exploration and determination paved the way for greening, garnering social attention and support, thereby gaining government backing and inspiring local residents, forming a common consensus.
This "human effort" compensates for the significant gap in financial and material resources.
However, in Egypt, a predominantly male-dominated society influenced by Islamic culture, most women are accustomed to staying at home.
Wealthy and powerful men tend to expend their energy on multiple families and children, naturally diminishing their focus on social responsibilities and making it unlikely for them to invest in anything beyond their families.
Therefore, even with irrigation canals, Egypt is unlikely to see greening volunteers or large-scale farmers like in China!
In this situation, Egypt's land reclamation canal project still needs the participation of Chinese companies.
Before 2011, during the Mubarak era, Egypt implemented the Tushka Project to green the desert.
Chinese agricultural experts were invited to experiment with farming in some desert areas along the tributaries of the Lake Nasser. However, the results were not satisfactory.
The main problem was that the sandy soil had high salt content, similar to the situation when the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps was established.
Because of the high salt content in the sandy soil, it needed to be "washed" multiple times to gradually filter out the saline-alkaline soil and allow crops to grow.
The land reclamation plan implemented during the Mubarak regime only received an investment of 6 billion US dollars. Although the outcome was not perfect, it can be seen as tuition fees for trial and error.
China's Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps successfully transformed saline-alkaline land into arable land, providing Egypt's current government with a successful example of a difficult path, which is why they are increasing investment.
Although the current situation of land reclamation is not ideal, the future is promising. Soil improvement is a daunting task but a necessary one.
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