An Assessment and analytical report for integrated agriculture-aquaculture (IAA) systems in Egypt

WorldFish

Introduction

      Desertification is one of the biggest environmental challenges Egypt suffers from. Over the past 20 years, land cover in Egypt has increased 11.976 km² (1.2 % of the total land area). However, 1817 km² (0.18 % of the total land area) has been lost to degradation. This shows the need to increase wetlands and water bodies while being aware of the consequent hazards to the Nile Delta croplands .

A government land reclamation program aims to increase agricultural land outside old delta land. In newly reclaimed land, water resources are limited, so optimizing the use of water is important for sustainable development in the country.

Most predictions concerning the rate of increase and potential to produce fish and related products through IAA are based primarily on resource consideration, such as the availability of land and water, trained personnel and investment capital. Little consideration is given to external constraints such as consumer demand, competition with other means of producing animal protein and fats, and the competing demands for space and other resources to meet other societal needs. It is with that in mind that this study assesses the potential growth of aquaculture production as realistically as possible to determine in what forms aquaculture is likely to be most competitive with other types of food production using IAA systems.

         This study describes, in chronological order, the significant advances that IAA has made in commercial and small-scale activities. The main aspects of these advancements are related to integrating one or more plants and aquatic animals to optimize the use of land, water and energy. The study also addresses the main characteristics advantages, disadvantages and successful examples of using flow-through and recycled water in fish farming systems. These types of integrated systems focus on using resources efficiently by complying with several criteria that bring them closer to sustainability. However, each one has its challengers, one of the most important being the biological compatibility between different cultivated plant and animal organisms.

Contents

List of figures

List of tables

List of plates

Executive summary

1. Introduction

2. Objective

3. Implementation of the consultancy

4. Overview

5. Alignment with national strategies

6. Policy supporting aquaculture and IAA in Egypt

7. Egyptian stakeholders

8. Mission statement of the field visit program

9. SWOT analysis results and recommendations

10. IAA technologies

11. Feedback

References

Annex1. Field visits

Annex2. Lists of farms

Annex3. Feedback from the workshop

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 Prep. / Ayman Ashry

Manage. / Mona Mahmoud