Consolidating Land Holdings as a Means to Improve Natural

Resources Management, Alleviate Poverty and Enhance Food

Security

WFP in Egypt has been supporting the Executive Agency for Rural Development Projcts

in the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, and a number of local community

associations in the Sohag Governorate to improve natural resource management among

smallholders by introducing land holding consolidation to increase land and water

management efficiency, enhance agricultural productivity, reduce cultivation costs and

increase revenue.

The WFP support programme sought to address a situation where over 60 percent of

land holders in the Egyptian villages own/rent less than one acre, while 90% own less

than 3 acres. This land fragmentation is one of the main drivers of poverty in rural Egypt

as it negatively affects the feasibility of farming in several ways. Firstly, the barriers

between smallholder land plots were estimated to cover 30-40% of the agricultural

areas, representing a major cause of land loss. These barriers also unduly reduce

irrigation efficiency by 10-20%.

Activities under the programme included:

- Awareness raising campaigns to introduce the concept, multi-dimensional

benefits, steps, challenges etc. of land holding consolidation

- Marking borders of original plots of land

- Conducting soil analysis for informed land planning and crop selection

- Signing bilateral contracts between the farmers and the project.

- Forming a committee to represent the beneficiaries. This committee is to be

authorized to make decisions and negotiate on behalf of the

- beneficiaries and its members are to be selected in a transparent and

participatory manner

- Providing technical assistance to the farmers on what to cultivate, what

treatments are to be applied, marketing support, etc.

- Applying agricultural mechanization, procuring seeds, cultivating the same

cropping pattern throughout the consolidated area

To encourage participation, the project covered all cultivation costs in the first

season. Beneficiaries also received a monthly food ration to compensate for their

wage for days in which they participated in the project activities. For

sustainability, the farmer’s contributions were gradually increased until ultimately

they were covering all costs by the fourth season.

The programme has reached over 50,000 people and has resulted in several

achievements, including:

- Improved land management resulting in 20-25% increase in the cultivated land

and subsequent increase in productivity due to the removal of the soil linings

around the small plots

- Improved water management resulted in10-15% reduction in irrigation water

usage due to the re-alignment of the irrigation channels. An equivalent reduction

of irrigation costs (pumps fuel) was also achieved.

- 15-20% savings on inputs expenditures achieved by wholesale procurements-15-

20% increase in farmer’s income as a result of reduced transportation costs and

improved ability to sell products

The project was designed to pilot this model in an area of 150 acres. Witnessing

its successful results, increasing numbers of beneficiaries adopted the model

where eventually 70% of the village land (2000 acres) was consolidated. The

Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation also announced adopting land

holding consolidation as a strategic priority.

Factors such as skepticism and conflicts among farmers were impeding. Local

NGOs played an effective role in overcoming these challenges.