One of the farmers is an investor from Dakhla who has been living in Abu Minqar for 8 years. He describes himself as an “Arab from Dakhla”. When moving to Abu Minqar, his father bought 6 feddan for L.E. 6.000 per feddan off a someone who bought the land off the government and left the oasis. The land is now worth L.E. 20 000 per feddan. In Bir 1 the land is much more expensive than in other birs, this farmer tells us (which might be an indication of superior land quality). Investors in Bir 1 own between 3 and 20 feddan (someone caled MOhammad Sayed has 50 feddan in Bir 1). Original settlers own 6 feddan each. However, most of the original settlers from Dakhla have not sold any of their land. Investors will sometimes buy a house from settlers, if a house is not for sale with the corresponding land, the investors will receive an extra plot of land from the government to build a house. The farmer does not know how many feddan the official map of Bir 1 contains. Yet, there is a total of 48 feddan outside the map which are temporarily irrigated with water from Bir 1.
The farmer uses Yuria fertilizer, which he buys from the Agriculture and Development Bank. The bank provides 5 bags of Yuria per feddan, each bag containing 5 kg of fertilizer (this is the maximum share per feddan). If this fertilizer is not enough, he buys more from the shop or gets it off friends. At L.E. 36 (per what? bag?), the price of Yuria at the bank is cheaper than the L.E. 40 he would have to pay on the private market.
According to this farmer, the agricultural association in Talaat Dargham is responsible for water divisions and problems, for example if one farmer receives more water than another the association calculates the price of the harvest that was lost as a result (???? – the igamea, not the kobar?). It is also responsible for lining canals and for the maintenance of lined canals. There is an agricultural engineer who works at the igamea and is present every day. The igamea, however, does not provide a program for fertlizer or plant diseases (as in educational program?). It also has a map of all land in Abu Minqar. If irrigation hours should ever be stolen by other farmers, this farmer says, he would complain to the police office in Farafra. This, however, has not occured yet.
Separate from the gamea, there is the Maktab Izra’a. This governmental office for agriculture is responsible for handing out seeds and pesticides, not fertilizer. This farmer will sometimes use seeds from the previous harvest, depending on the quality, if he should not be able to obtain them from the agricultural office.
During the interview, it is the farmer’s irrigation time. He tells us that another farmer is getting water at the same time, but does not know who this other farmer is. The water this farmer obtains according to the Bir 1 irrigation schedule is enough to irrigate 6 feddan in winter, but only 2 feddan in summer. Thus, in summer he only cultivates 2 of the 6 feddan. Should there be more than enough water to irirgate these 2 feddan at times, he gives away the excess water to other farmers for free.
According to this farmer, there are 36 investors and 48 settlers. Both settlers and investors pay money to the government each year. This farmer pays LE 240 for the land and agricultural services (e.g. cleaning and maintenance of canals).
Bir 1 has one elder who is selected according to an agreement made by the farmer. This elder takes the irrigation timetable to the government. Adel’s father is the elder at the momenet, he is a good and fair person, according to this farmer. The farmer knows the old consultant from Dakhla, who only comes in at rice planting time. Farmers do not plant much rice anymore in Bir 1 as there is not enough water to irrigate rice. The total available amount of water is decreasing, both because the irrigation area is increasing, and because less water is coming out of the well (!).
