Bir Wahid case study
Farmers: Adel, Nasser, Araby, Samir, Ramadan,
Introduction
Water in Abu Minqar is organized around the well, a management system that dates back to days long before the establishment of Abu Minqar as a desert oasis village 1987. Villagers attest to this well-centered history, stating that ‘min zaman1’ cultivation in the Western Desert has revolved around individual wells. Historically, community elders have supervised the well, and thus created a distribution scheme that would supply water to the wells constituents. This system of irrigation is further highlighted in an article by Shmuel Burmil, as he describes a management structure in the Western Desert going as far back as the early 20th century, where water distribution has been coordinated by a ‘Guardian(s) of the Spring.’ (can we get Fakhy to backup) This point distinguishes water management in groundwater settings from water management in the Nile Valley and Nile Delta. Groundwater water management fundamentally, at least in the case of Egypt’s Western Desert, functions as an informal water users association. Decisions and management are localized around the well, and subsequently, around the agricultural fields where farmers negotiate the nuances of water distribution. Since the Aswan High Dam was constructed by Gamal Abdel Nasser in the 1960’s, a system of canals provides water to Egypt’s farmers. From these canals water is extracted and brought to fields, but these decisions are not necessarily localized and associations to coordinate between the local groups of water users often have to be synthetically created. Hence, the great emphasis in water management projects on the formation of Water User Associations (WUA) in the Nile Valley and Delta. This idea, along with the other physical and human characteristics that differentiate desert livelihoods and Nile Valley livelihoods, gives justification for water management studies that exclusively deal in the Western Desert, and highlight the importance of the well in that system.
In Abu Minqar, agricultural fields are assigned to a numbered well, in which there are 13 wells2, and likewise, 13 agricultural fields. These ‘irrigation command areas’ represent the spaces where farmers cultivate land, implement crop decisions, interact with neighboring farmers, graze their livestock, and ultimately, utilize their allocation of the water supply. As each well is viewed as critical to the understanding of the overall water system, this study will conduct micro-level intensive examinations of individual wells. In this instance, the project team will provide an in depth look at Bir Wahid.
History of the Land
In 1964 a well was dug in the region that is now irrigation command area Bir Wahid. The well was authorized by XX in the Egyptian government and construction was contracted out to Shurka Italya. (brief history of intervening years). However, Abu Minqar and command area Bir Wahid was not established and settled until 1987 when the Ministry of Water Resources Directorate hired Shurka il Nahda to commence with land preparation for irrigation and farming activities. As this ministry is now obsolete, no paperwork on the company’s exact role was accessed, however according to villagers present at the time, Shurka il Nahda’s role was to level out the land and assist in the settlement of the new farmers. According to multiple local accounts, this process was completed approximately a year after the foundation of Bir Wahid. At this point, the ‘kharag il zamam,’ or the officially designated land, that which is intended to be irrigated by the command area well, was frozen at 346 feddans. Specifics on the existing infrastructural situation will be presented in the next paragraph but a brief account of the historical developments will now be given. In 1999 a second well was constructed, beginning the era of a dual well system in Bir Wahid. In 2005 an additional well was established, which made the original well dating back to 1964 obsolete. This dual well system did not alter the official 346 feddans of land granted to the command area, but merely altered the overall rate of discharge. Additionally, infrastructural improvements, such as the installation of ‘lined’ main canals and the introduction of large drainage ditches have been seen in recent years. A further land development has been the expansion of cultivated land in Bir Wahid outside of the official ‘kharag il zamam.’ Despite being officially frozen, much new land has been added through the act of farmers ‘putting their hands on the earth,’ a culturally, but not legally, accepted method of acquiring land. Thus, actual land under cultivation is drastically higher then the official 346 feddans. Not all farmers in Bir Wahid have done so, and the one’s have are not allowed to increase their total water allotment, but this increase in quantity of unofficial land is an important factor in Bir Wahid.
Settlement of command area Bir Wahid commenced with the arrival of the mutafayn – or, beneficiaries – from the Dahkla Oasis in 1987. This government sponsored program brought 39 families into the nascent village of Abu Minqar, settling them in what is now Um Abu Minqar (also named Qarya Taht). The influence of this original migration is still clearly perceptible today as Bir Wahid is largely comprised of villagers from Dakhla and the original beneficiary migration. At this point, only five of the original group has departed and ‘rented’ out their land plots to non-mutafayn family units. These early immigrants received six feddans of land in Bir Wahid through the program. The distribution of the land was designed to ensure a measure of equality. Each family received two feddans near to the well, two feddans in the middle of the command area and two feddans far away from the well. This design originates from the Ministry of Water Resources Directorate and the Shurka il Nahda, intended to reduce the inequality inherent in a flood irrigation system which relies on the movement of water from the source to the destination, where water loss due to seepage and evaporation is worse in the more distant fields. In this distribution system, all enjoy the benefits of having land near to the water source and the disadvantages of having land far away from it. In addition to the 39 mutafayn families, 13 mustasmar, or private investors, arrived in 1987, shortly after the establishment of the command area. These settlers come from the Nile Valley, the Nile Delta and the New Valley and so bring a degree of diversity to command area Bir Wahid. Field plots from this group varied in size and location, but did not exceed 20 feddans. More so than the mutafayn, many business transactions have occurred which have divided and split the land into the possession of additional private investors3, but the land still remains in the names of the original 13 mustasmar. Furthermore, there also are a number of land and water users of Bir Wahid that have no monetary tie to the command area. They can be best described as land ‘sharers’ who split costs of the agricultural production process with the land ‘owners’ and then take a proportion of the harvest, be it in a split of the harvest or a split of the sales. This partnership generally occurs with farmers that have more than six feddans and do not wish to invest large quantities of money into fertilizers and seeds. The population, and circumstances, of Bir Wahid will be more thoroughly examined later in the piece, but this general layout is sufficient for the initial history of the land.
Water Demand Management:
Infrastructure and Physical Setting
Irrigation command area ‘Bir Wahid’ is first and foremost defined by its desert setting, and accordingly, its complete reliance on the two underground wells that supply its irrigated land. There is virtually no rainfall and the Nile water supply is hundreds of kilometers away, and so, as with any other desert oasis, what water can be withdrawn from the ground becomes the lifeblood of the community. Secondly, Bir Wahid, as well as the twelve other irrigation command areas, are next defined by their universal use of flood irrigation. Flood irrigation requires water to flow from the source, i.e. the wells, to the fields, which necessitates a great deal of coordination between water users. The two wells, labeled ‘Adiim’ and ‘Gidiid’ respectively, are each relatively new structures4. Bir Wahid Adiim was established through the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources (MIWR) in 1999, contracted through the Shurka Reguwa. It is an artesian well – naturally flowing – that taps the subterranean aquifer at a depth of 1010 meters. The government recorded discharge rate is 174 m³/hour while the project team calculated a flow rate of 286 m³/hour. Bir Wahid Gidiid was established by MIWR, under a contract with the Shurka Arabya il Hafrayat (?), in 2005. Like its older counterpart, water rises to the surface under natural pressure, flowing 24 hours a day. It is tapped at a depth of 678 meters, has a government recorded rate of discharge of 219 m³/hour and a project team recorded discharge rate of 286 m³/hour.
The two wells of Bir Wahid flow into lined well basins, and being separated by a distance of 130 meters, they subsequently flow into separate lined5 canals which allow the two streams of water to join before they flow into the cultivated farm land6. According to government data Bir Wahid occupies 346 feddans of land. Of this, there are the lined main canals and the unlined7 secondary and tertiary canals which bring water to the extensive command area. The lined main canals are recent additions to Bir Wahid. Between two and three years ago the government (Farafra’s Ministry of Irrigation) installed lined canals8 which would provide for swifter and more efficient transport of water from its origin at the well to the eventual destination in the agricultural fields. When canals are unlined, two problems arise; water seepage into the earth, which eventually contributes to water logging, and evaporation. The problem of evaporation is compounded during the summer hot months when slow water flow leaves the powerful sun extra time to extract water from the earth’s surface. As the main canals are lined in Bir Wahid, in regions near to the lined canal, farmers have an opportunity to more effectively use the water resource. Later in this piece we will identify water flow levels, by looking at a study conducted by DDC engineers, at different points of the command area allowing us to compare water utilization in Bir Wahid with the twelve other command areas. In an interview with the Ministry of Irrigation in June 2006, we were told that the Farafra government recognizes the importance of lined canals and have plans to continue the process of installing concrete canals in the future. This is an important step for Abu Minqar and by observing Bir Wahid, we will be able to more fully understand the potential benefits of such an infrastructural improvement. Secondary canals, or those that branch off the main line but remain separate from the agricultural fields, and tertiary canals, those that lie next to farm plots, remain unlined in Bir Wahid. A critical problem, both observed and substantiated by the farmers, is the unlined secondary canals. Much of the agricultural land is irrigated by water that spends little time in the command areas main canal, and thus, the benefits of a lined main canal can be viewed as marginal. In water flow studies to be examined in depth further on in the piece, it will be shown that water leakage problems persist as much of the land still relies on secondary and tertiary canals for water transportation.
At numerous spots along Bir Wahid’s canals there exist ‘decision points,’ where an opportunity to divide water flow is offered. At these junctures, water can be branched off the main line in order to transport a portion of that flow into other sections of the larger command area. These decision points consist of ‘gates,’ which run off main, secondary or tertiary lines, that remain open or closed depending upon human decisions of where the water should go. Human decisions on how, when and why to open these gates will be a point of extensive further analysis later in the piece. Gates in the lined main canals are predominantly metal barriers which are opened and closed with a ‘key9’ that is shared by the villagers. Where pipes replace metal barriers as gates in the lined canals, steel cloth or ordinary fabric become the devices used to ‘open’ or ‘close’ the decision point and redirect water flow, thereby managing the irrigation system. Once water leaves the main canal, it flows into unlined canals that distribute water to divisions of the overall command area. As unlined canals are earthen, metal gates are not practical and decision points are generally composed of rudimentary gateways such as removable mud dams or pipes with steel cloth or fabric obstructing the flow. As with the main line, farmers can manipulate the water flow in order to distribute water to the intended farm plots. How exactly it is determined who the ‘rightful’ land plots are will be a point of extensive further analysis.
Of the 346 feddans in irrigation command area Bir Wahid, the soil type can be best categorized as loamy sand, with low salinity levels and a high saturation percentage10. As soil in Abu Minqar is regarded as ‘virgin’ due to it’s relatively recent cultivation. This has (what effects, do I give anecdotes on peoples perceptions of the land?). Drainage ditches, installed by the government, encircle the command area as they provide a means to reduce salinity issues resulting from a rising water table. At the northwest region of the command area, a lake filled with drainage water resides. (More technical, virgin soil, drainage ditches, etc)
Water Demand Management
The Human Element
Thus far Bir Wahid has been described from a technical angle. As this is a water demand management project, the ‘people’ side is just as critical (and probably more so) to the understanding of the overall system. In demand management, the supply, for all intents and purposes, should be viewed as ‘given.’ The goal is not to influence the supply, but to work with what is available, doing so in the most efficient manner possible. The natural resources, i.e. the deep subsurface aquifer, and additionally, the hyper-arid physical setting, are constants. It is our job as scientific and social researchers to identify how the human element has made use of this ‘given.’ Within such a study, the human element will be observed through historical, social, and economic conditions. As explained in an article by Dr. E.H. Addison and Dr. M. Livingston, ‘every cultural system entails long traditions of water use…which are important to understand in order to adapt appropriate conservation practices’ (Addison and Livingston, 2004). The cultural systems in Bir Wahid, which are complex and varied, contribute to the overall water management system and understanding the command areas organization – chiefly, ‘who’ belongs to irrigation command area, how water is allocated, how it is supervised, and how individual level decisions are made – will be fundamental in making any sort of assessment on the overall water management system.
Who are they: when they arrived, government programs, types of landowners, waves, family splits. (Joseph)
As briefly touched upon in previous paragraphs, the first wave of Bir Wahid farmers came from Dakhla through the ‘mutafayn’ program, sponsored by the government. (Joseph…history of the people…who they are, what we know about them…need to get reliable statistics on the breakdown of original settler’s and private investors – look into how many people left, why they rented out the land -, water sharers, women etc).
A narrative of ‘who’ the people are has been presented, but analysis of the integration of the farmers – as individuals and as a collective – into Bir Wahid’s water management system should at this point be undertaken. First, it is important to note that the project research team views each separate command area as an unofficial association of water users. Along with each well denoting the placement of a particular agricultural area, wells are also converging points where farmers are assembled and water is allocated. At each well there is a mechanism that serves the collective of growers through the distribution of an irrigation schedule. At Bir Wahid there are a there a couple of individuals, aptly named ‘il Kobar11,’ who serve as leaders in the task of setting the irrigation schedule. In Bir Wahid, they are (give names…Adel’s father, and find out others!). They are given this position based upon experience, age, and local prestige. Additionally, there is a group of ‘elders,’ composed of villagers of notable experience and prestige, are responsible for assisting in the coordination of schedule setting activities. Primarily, this was said to take the form of schedule distribution, either orally or in writing, to the various water users of Bir Wahid. No formal elections are conducted to appoint either il Kobar or the elders, and in fact, some have described the elders as volunteers. Where il Kobar have held the position from long ago, the elders are a fluid group where changes to its makeup occur from schedule to schedule. Due to the historical background of Bir Wahid, all leaders are said to be primarily composed of individuals from Dakhla, although other identity groups are also represented. Additionally, if there are any concerns with the water schedule or rotation, farmers are supposed to address il kobar directly.
In the schedule making process farmers are assigned a certain number of hours of irrigated water every 15 days. This becomes an important concept as each grower’s share of the command area water is quantified in time and not volume, a potential problem when water conservation becomes a priority. The exact quantity of water that reaches each farm is known only in estimates and has not been scientifically studied. As the majority of farmers arrived under the ‘mutafayn’ program in the late 1980’s, most farmers have six feddans of land and receive six hours of water every 15 days. This is based upon a Wadi Gadiid wide policy of one hour of irrigated water per one feddan. Furthermore, as most farmers have their land split into three different regions of Bir Wahid (as explained above in History of the Land) the schedule clusters farmers together in order to allow a sharing mechanism that will improve water distribution efficiency. For example, Adel, Amer and Salih each have three plots of land in three different locations of Abu Minqar. Rather than Adel flooding all three farm plots during his six hour period, and in the process wasting time and water waiting for the flow to reach further land plots, Adel uses two hours for one farm, lets Amer and Salih each use two hours each, and then together they divert the flow to a different region of Bir Wahid and repeat that process. Although this division of water distribution is not included in the formal schedule, the grouping of individuals, in order to avoid confusion, is included. Will require confirmation. The official water management schedule, which exists as a written document, has not been changed during the past 3 years, meaning that there has not been a meeting with or a formal meeting between il kobar or the elders during this period of time. The schedule is deemed set, universally remembered and adhered to by all in Bir Wahid and so there has been a need to change or rerecord the schedule. Rice production was more extensively grown in previous years, a crop which requires daily watering and thus a more complex schedule, however farmers have noted that ‘reduced water flows’ from the well have led to less rice growing and less need for schedule changes.
Despite the official Bir Wahid schedule being fixed for the last three years, the practical application of the schedule is constantly renegotiated on the farmer level. First, it should be recalled that more unofficial cultivated land has been added to the official land in irrigation command area Bir Wahid since its establishment in 1987. The irrigation schedule distributes water to 346 feddans of agricultural land – one hour per feddan every 15 days – but farmers are free to distribute their hourly quantities of water in any manner that they choose. If a farmer has six feddans of land to his name, he is given six hours of water every fifteenth day. Yet, if he is a farmer that has ‘put his hands on the earth’ and has additional land, he is not obligated to just water those six feddans. Thus, decisions outside of the schedule are commonplace. Additionally, water sharing…
It is important to view XXXX info on ad hoc arrangements. The land has been frozen at 350 feddans, and has been since the early on in the establishment of the land. and no more land is allowed in the
It is up to the farmer to distribute the water in a way that will provide enough to satisfy his crop requirements (such as leaving some land empty, or combining water intensive crops with non-water intensive crops). On the day and hour a farmer is to receive his water allotment, he individually goes to the field and removes whatever barrier (whether that be a removable metal dam or a pile of mud) stands in the way of his farm plot and the water stream. Flood irrigation is the only irrigation method employed in the village, and so each farmer lets water flow into his fields, letting water enter and soak the land until the next farmer closes the barrier and transfers the water flow into his own plot. Thus, we see that there is a straightforward system of water distribution. Still, and as the project team believes is of tremendous consequence in understanding Bir Wahid’s, and the rest of Abu Minqar’s, situation is to note the extensive ad hoc systems that coexist with this straightforward system. These ad hoc arrangements are made between individual farmers in the selling/purchasing of additional water. Depending on the time of the year, or the crop variety a farmer wishes to cultivate, he will buy extra water from another farmer (evidently one with an excess of water for his growing needs). The twice annual water distribution meetings also take irregular form at times, where an outside consultant named ‘Il Nagar’ is brought in to arrange an intricate irrigation system which provides for the daily water needs of rice growers, while not disturbing the functioning of the other farms. The nuances of the system will be described below; now it is time to introduce the people who make up irrigation command area Bir Wahid.
Next paragraph, give a full account of the Kobars, and reveal how they are selected, how people perceive them, etc.
Farming Practices
Irrigation engineers – or government extension agents – are present in Abu Minqar but are generally seen as ‘distant’ from the farmers in Abu Minqar. If their advice is seen as beneficial to the farmers, then there is a chance that it might be taken up. If it is not, then farmers will ignore it. The same goes for advice directed to farmers by the government. Adel sees things in Abu Minqar as functioning harmoniously the ‘traditional way’.
Farmers plant trees for a domestic supply of fruit, and to obtain building material for ceilings and walls (Australian pine – reconfirm name with Tawhid). The planting of trees is concentrated around the south-western tip of the bir 1 irrigation area, as trees attract birds and a spreading of trees across the entire area would also spread the danger of birds destroying the harvest. Because of the bird hazard, because production from trees is too little and fruit are difficult to market, local farmers consciously limit the planting of trees. In the area where trees are concentrated; farmers plant crops that grow from / contain seeds that are too large for birds to feed on, e.g. fuhl, bersim or vegetables. According to Adel, it would not be possible to successfully plant and harvest wheat in the area in which trees are concentrated, as the harvest would almost certainly be destroyed by birds.
According to Adel, the four most important factors influencing his crop planting decision-making are the following: marketing conditions, soil conditions (for some crops), availability of water and the type of crop formerly planted on the land. The last one is particularly important where crop rotation decisions are taken into account. Adel claims that availability of fertilizer and pesticides is not an issue.
The soil in Abu Minqar is good to grow most field crops, but is not appropriate for growing peanuts, and sesame does not grow well (the farmers do not know why). In winter, the major crop grown in Bir 1 is wheat (as it covers domestic demand and can also achieve a good price on the market). In summer, the major crops are corn (dura and shamy). Shamy is not very profitable, but is planted as a forage crop and makes farmers more independent in maintaining their animal production.
Example for productivity based on 3 feddan of winter wheat: Each feddan produces around 35 packages (plastic containers or chikara) of 70 kg each. A plot of 3 feddan would thus produce around 105 bags of wheat, of which Adel says he would keep around 20 for the domestic use of his family. Thus, 85 bags remain to be marketed.
Adel also keeps some seeds from each harvest for the next season. This is as seeds provided by the government, obtained from the agricultural cooperative in the village do not grow very well. The farmers are not sure why this is the case and admit that this may be their own fault as well as the government’s fault. Tawhid remarks that this may be a result of mishandling the seeds during transport. He also notes that using seeds from one harvest for the next sowing season is not recommendable form a scientific point of view, as second generated seeds are mostly hybrid and therefore less productive.
Wheat is almost entirely sold to the Agricultural Development and Credit Bank. This bank has many branches in Egypt, including one in Abu Minqar. The bank usually provides farmers with seeds, fertilizer and other agricultural land and services and keeps part of the harvest as compensation for these services. In Bir 1, however, Adel says, farmers pay for their fertilizers in full at the time of purchase, and the Bank pays for the obtained harvest in full. The Bank provides the highest price for the harvest; their offer by far exceeds that of any merchant, which encourages farmers to sell their harvest to the Bank.
Prices for wheat are around 155 L.E. per irdab (ca. 150 kg), which means about 1.5 L.E. per kg of wheat.
When selling wheat in Abu Minqar, farmers dip into the stock they keep for domestic use upon direct request from buyers from within the oasis. This wheat can either be sold or exchanged for other goods and services.
Farmers buy fertilizers directly from the Bank in Abu Minqar. The fertilizers most farmers use are “Yuria” (ammonium) and “Superphosphorus” or ”Supermonophoshorus” (in Arabic: suber phosphat uhadi). In addition, they use manure from animal production. Typically, farmers in bir 1 would blend manure into the soil one month before planting, leaven the soil to rest for this one month, and with the first irrigation would start the first phase of chemical fertilizer. Adel uses 3.5 packages (ca. 175 kg) of “Yuria” per season per feddan. In terms of manure, Adel uses three tractor loads of around 5 cubic metres each per 2 feddan per season, which is 7.5 cubic metres per feddan. Superphosphorus is not used every season, but only about every second year. Adel uses 6 packets of Superphosphorus per feddan.
Finally, it should be noted that an ‘official’ water and agricultural association does exist. It is intended to act as a middleman between the community and the government, but it has universally been described as defunct, and no meetings presently occur.
One defining feature of the water distribution system in Bir Wahid, and Abu Minqar in general, is that flood irrigation is universally employed. Drip irrigation and sprinkler irrigation, the two other irrigation techniques used in Egypt, are not present in Abu Minqar at this point12. This command area characteristic is significant in that it reveals uniformity in the manner in which farmers put water onto their farm plots.
Bir Wahid Case Study: Adel
Individual case studies (Adel, Nasser, etc)
In depth Adel case study; include his 4 feddan summer policy, his background, his farm plot split, etc.
Agricultural Production
The most notable agricultural discovery is that the community appears to be heavily reliant upon animal production activities. Through observation, it quickly became apparent that a large percentage of crops were animal fodder (primarily clover). A sizeable portion of Um Abu Minqar is dedicated towards housing animals – cows, camels, goats, sheep and horses comprise the biggest animal populations in the constructed animal shelters. However, each household is generally involved in some variety of small-scale animal production, be it chicken, duck, goose or goat rearing. Other farming operations are obviously important, but through observation and informal interviews, animal production appears to be the most widespread – a number of testimonies were given by villagers asserting that 100% of Abu Minqar inhabitants are somehow involved in animal rearing, yet we have confirmed that some of the schoolteachers, typically with only short-term contracts, do not raise animals.
In an effort to better understand the water and physical setting of Abu Minqar, the project undertook a comprehensive water and soil analysis. Done by the Desert Development Center of the American University in Cairo, the study was intended to determine the quality of the areas water and soil, isolating each farming region to get a place specific assessment. Many scientific categories of the water and soil were evaluated, and overall, the study conclusion is that the area has relatively good water and soil conditions. The ultimate goal of this research activity is to compare this ‘technical’ study with a ‘social’ study of the same subject – water and soil quality in Abu Minqar. The social study was done through a technique called cognitive mapping, where villagers were asked to draw their agricultural and living environments, discussing their perceptions on the water and soil and the same time. We just received the water and soil analysis from the DDC laboratory and so there has no been time to do a comparison.
A full list of agricultural activities is available in the Community Profile, but a few important pieces of information will be presented here. First, there is very little citrus production. Some lemon trees can be found but at a very small scale. It has twice been mentioned to the project team that citrus is forbidden by the government, but this has not been substantiated and will have to be followed up on. And second, products, such as mangos and watermelon, which lie low to the ground, are generally avoided as there has been a problem with desert foxes and other animals eating the crops.
There are two especially intriguing indigenous methods of water management that the project team identified during the Inception Phase and that will be investigated in more detail in the upcoming research phase:
