The ancient Egyptian is the first to discover agriculture in the world .. his relationship with agriculture started in the Stone Age ... Since more than eight thousand years BC.

 
Agriculture in ancient Egypt

Egyptians have been connected long ago to the River Nile ever since early ages. Egypt and its civilization have been connected as well, to agriculture as the main profession of its dwellers. Interest in agriculture and agricultural production goes back to pre-dynastic ages in which their government was the first to lay interest in irrigation management. The history inscribes that the dwellers of the cities of Beni Salama and Fayoum were the first to adopt agricultural practices in 5500 BC; they were the first to cultivate wheat, barley, and some legumes as lentils and horse bean; they have also cultivated flax and many such vegetables as onions and garlic and many fruits as figs, pomegranate, grapes, berries, peach and water melon, and they were also acquainted with the cultivation of palm trees, acacia, sycamore, ebony, oaks and also some medicinal and aromatic plants as Oregon, cinnamon, saffron, jasmine, roses and henna, besides papyrus and lotus plants along the banks of the River Nile. Ancient Egyptians were also keen to raise cattle, sheep and goats.

The farmer of ancient Egypt has invented agricultural and irrigation machineries, he was the first in history to use the hoe and the wooden plough and the first to use the Shadoof (a water supply bucket with a rope from lower to higher level). The ancient Egyptian has set up the foundation of the agricultural calendar, as Egypt was the first state in which planting was organized by seasons. They have also erected dams and dug canals and established irrigation networks to circulate and store water, they also have set measures to define the height of the Nile water and estimating the taxes accordingly, in which they've used accurate mathematical equations.

At the time of old dynasties (2778-2423 BC), the extent of concern in agriculture has lead to establish a special department namely "the House of Agriculture", which was divided into two divisions, one for Cattle and the other for Farms. Agriculture has then developed during the period of the middle kingdom (2065-1585 BC), in which the credit goes to Amenemhat the First I, to launch the renowned renaissance in agriculture and irrigation. During the time of modern kingdom period, progress in agriculture has reached its ultimate peak, thus enabling Egypt to actually become Europe's basket of cereals.

At the Ptolemaic reign, the cultivated area has expanded and field crops have been diversified. Ptolemaic kings have been interested in irrigation, management of water use, digging of canals, erection of bridges and digging of wells in the desert.

During the Islamic age Egypt has attained as well, a continued progress in agriculture, where land reclamation has been carried out, cereals cultivation continued, rice and maize cultivation introduced, legume crops expanded, and cotton cultivation has flourished.

The Egyptian farmer still preserves many of the customs and tradition legacies, which are mainly affected by the annual River Nile flood; it is also connected greatly to the nature of cultivation in the Nile valley.

Agriculture in Modern Egypt

Egypt has witnessed a great deal of progress in the field of agriculture during the nineteenth century, commencing from the reign of Mohamed Ali Pasha, in which agriculture has become the second pillar of development in the state after education, being some of his European employees have indicated to establish an agricultural school symmetrical to agricultural schools in Europe. This agricultural school has actually been created at the experimental farms of the Ruler's land in the city of "Nabaroh" with the assistance of a French expertise.

During that decade, a number of irrigation projects have been established including the digging of such canals as Ibrahimia Canal and Mahmoudia Canal which has supplied Alexandria with Nile water, also the erection of barrages and reservoirs, which have had their highest impact in the expansion of the cultivated area in Egypt from around one million Feddan in 1813 to millions of Feddans in 1853. Moreover, the erection of the Khayria Barrage in 1861, has lead to the introduction of permanent irrigation system in Lower Egypt.

During Mohamed Ali Pasha reign, cash crops have been introduced to Egypt, especially the cotton crop, as well as some of the products used in industry. 

During the second half of the twentieth century and after the outbreak of the July 1952 revolution, attention to agricultural sector has been kept on for the development and progress of that significant sector. Egypt has become known in implementing huge irrigation projects after controlling Nile flooding. The construction of the High Dam that has started in 1960, has contributed to attain water security to Egypt till date, presenting one of the most significant transformations in the history of Egyptian agriculture. This has its own impact on implementing horizontal development projects and the on going expansion of the cultivated area due to safe circulation of irrigation water. 

During that period, most of agrarian legislations have been issued such as the Law of Agrarian Reform and the Law of Agriculture No. 53 in 1966.

The year 2007 has witnessed the adoption of initial steps of the modernization of agriculture by converting it into a private sector; operated according to free market rules in the frame of economic liberalization program being implemented presently in Egypt. Thus, the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation has initiated the implementation of several procedures, among which horizontal and vertical expansion and increase in the yield of various agricultural crops through the support of agricultural research in the use of modern technology. 

Agricultural Achievements in Brief

·         The annual average of agricultural growth has risen from 2.6% in the eighties to 3.4% in the nineties and to reach 3.97% in the third millennium, with the pursuit to reach 4.1% by 2017.

·         The crop area has increased up to 15.2 million acres in 2007, due to the contribution of the vertical agricultural development projects.

·         The agricultural land area has increased by about 2.3 million acres over the last 25 years.

·         The agricultural sector contributes with about 14.8% of the country's entire GDP.

·         The agricultural exports contribute with about 20% of the total commodity exports.

·         About 150 thousand acres are to be added every year to the agricultural area, following an ambitious long-term plan to add about 3.4 million acres of newly reclaimed land until 2017.

·         The agriculture sector has succeeded in reaching some increasing rates in the production of several agricultural crops and occupying lead positions worldwide in the productivity of a number of strategic crops such as rice, sugarcane, maize, wheat.

Mega Agricultural Projects 

Egypt has also launched the implementation of mega agricultural expansion projects which would contribute to the addition of 1.3 million Feddans and the increase of the inhabited area from 5.5 % of the total area of Egypt to 25%. This would mean redrawing the demographic map after creating new urban communities in the depths of the Egyptian desert areas that will attract population with the availability of all necessities of life of the infrastructure, facilities, services and new jobs. Such projects can be pointed as follows:

-          Reclamation of  255 thousand Feddans at the west of Nubaria, north west of Egypt

-          Toshka Project, Upper Egypt

-          Tere't El-Salam Project (El-SalamCanal), west of the Suez Canal

-          East of Owaynat Project, south west of the western desert of Egypt

-          Darb El-Arba'in Project, western desert of Egypt

-          The New Village Program