Running Log

Running log of findings, Abu Minqar

History

·        First wells in the oasis built in 1962. At that time, there were no settlements (Salim)

• The extended Bedouin family moved to the Bir 4 area 18 years ago

Water Management and NRM 

• Abu Minqar is has 15 wells, categorized under 13 ‘Irrigation Command Areas’; 8 wells are artesian – naturally flowing – and 7 are motorized – require motor to bring water to surface. Motorized wells are powered by electrical generator for 10 hours/day. These generators are tended to by government employees who rotate on daily or biweekly schedule (salary 250 EGP/month). Ministry of Irrigation in Farafra has list of each well and schedule of workers tending motors. There are lined and unlined well basins.

• Well digging government projects (i.e. paid for by government in government, permission for private investors to dig outside of Abu Minqar issued by government…Institute of Groundwater Research (IGWR), + (Irrigation and Water Resources)
• Irrigation and drainage in the oasis is organized through government constructed ‘main’ drainage ditches, which are present throughout Abu Minqar agricultural fields. The majority of canals are unlined.
• Water management at all birs is organized through a ‘well manager’ (kobar), who, according to farmers is the one who owns the most number of feddans in the agricultural area around a well and also has age and wisdom. A major question to pursue in the next research phase is how this selection / election takes place and in how far new immigrants are eligible for the position of kobar
• Mr. Said, from the Ministry of Irrigation, is also responsible for well maintenance and water distribution. Either Mr. Said or il kobar preside over water distribution meetings which occur before each new agricultural season. A schedule is devised and kept by the two men (if a kobar exists in that agricultural command area).Each grower is assigned a share of the well’s water, quantified in time and not volume. The general rule is that each feddan a farmer owns is worth one hour of watering per week. This is a governmental policy decreed from the ministries in Farafra.
• 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. Further ad hoc arrangements are made between individual farmers. Depending on the time of the year, or the crop variety a farmer wishes to cultivate, he will buy extra water from another farmer. In the winter months, extra water exists (must check to see if this is the case in Irrigation Command Areas with motorized wells!) and farmers are free to ‘take’ additional water at their leisure.
• Individual farmers who possess a particular agricultural field do not necessarily have to come from an adjoining village. For instance, those who live in Biir 5 do not always have their farm plots in Bir 5. Thus, the farmers potentially negotiate water issues with a group of people other than those they live nearby. This implies an increased level in interactions between farmers of different cultural groups as villages are more closely tied to cultural communities than agricultural fields are. How exactly the meetings are conducted, and how water distribution is allocated and decided upon, will be of great importance in identifying the form of interactions that occur.
• Women have no ‘official’ role in water management decisions, although they occasionally help out on fields. However, women make decisions on water management and the use of crops and water for cooking and livestock within the household. In how far women are indirectly contributing to water management decisions, for example by requesting certain crops for household needs, will be researched in the upcoming project phase.
• Example of a large Bedouin family in Tala’at Dargham: In the Salwa Hodda family, the mother works on the farm on a daily basis, while Salwa and Hodda usually stay at home. Salwa goes to school and helps in the household after school while Hodda work in the household all day and looks after the young kids. On occasions, Salwa goes to help out in the field, while Hodda says she does not want to and hates field work. The family has livestock in an empty graduate house near their home, which the girls will occasionally tend to as well.
• On the day before a wedding in Umm Abu Minqar in January 2007, Mahmoud from the Salwa Hodda family is amused that the groom worked on the field all day on the day of the Henna party. According to Mahmoud, he saw the groom in Bir 1 and asked him why he was working on his wedding day. The groom allegedly replied: “What can I do? I have water today!” Our driver remarks that this would never happen in Cairo, where the wedding day is a time to celebrate only.

Intentionality 

• Abu Minqar has experienced several waves of in-migration and will be a destination for further in-migration in the future. Many residents have intentionally chosen Abu Minqar as a place to build an existence for their families. The intentionality that is represented in the presence of most residents has a positive effect on the way community members act and interact: First, there seems to be a strong will to ‘make life work’ in the oasis and to coexist harmoniously with fellow oasis dwellers. Second, many residents show a very proactive attitude where it comes to shaping the future of the oasis, which is a reflection of their agency in choosing this ‘new home’ in the first place.
• The reasons for moving to Abu Minqar differ by gender. Some women followed their husbands to the oasis, knowing about the intention to live in Abu Minqar at the time of marriage. Other couples decided to move to Abu Minqar because of limited work options at their place of origin and because of the prospect to own a plot of agricultural land in the oasis. There are also male migrants who come to the oasis after negotiating a marriage arrangement with a woman from Abu Minqar; as well as women from outside the oasis, for example Mansoura and Dakhla, marrying into families from the oasis (this sometimes happens along ethnic lines, for example Abu Minqar Bedouins marrying a Bedouin bride from Dakhla).
• The group of residents that has shown the least ‘intentionality’ to live in Abu Minqar are teachers who are placed to work in the oasis by the government and share accommodation at the local school for one to two years. These teachers have voiced their frustration with life in Abu Minqar and because of their status as ‘temporary’ residents form an interesting group within the community.

Ethnic and cultural diversity ·        Abu Minqar is an oasis that contains a mix of residents from all corners of
Egypt. Residents make ethnic and cultural distinctions between ‘Bedouin’, ‘Arab’, ‘Bahrawy’, ‘Saidi’, etc. However, these identity markers are far from straightforward and are interpreted in vastly different ways among community groups and members. There seems to be a stigma attached to some of these markers. How ethnic / cultural identities, affiliations and interactions affect water and NR management will be one focus of stage 2 of the research.
Distinction between “Arab” and “Bedou” blurry——————-

• Owner of our house, Bedou from Bir 5: There is absolutely no difference between ‘Arab’ and ‘Bedou’
• Hodda: Arabs are people of Arabic origin, all Egyptians, Moroccans, Tunisians, people from the
  Arabian peninsula, etc. Bedou have a different cultural history and used to lead a nomadic life in the desert
• Salim: Arab and Bedou differ. There are differences even among different types of Bedou: Bedou from
  Libya, Bedou from Saudi-Arabia. They differ in language, custom (dances and music), clothes (Bedou from Saudi Arabia have black scarves and hide most of their face and their hands under them, now, however, it is ok to wear smaller, blue scarves and are allowed to wear pants instead of galabeya)

-—————————————————————————————————–

• The ethnic and cultural mix in Abu Minqar leads to a mix of very diverse knowledges, including knowledge on NRM and water management. These knowledges range from Bedouin knowledge and the ‘traditional’ knowledge of those residents who have lived in Abu Minqar for 25 years or more, to the knowledge of university graduates who have recently moved to Abu Minqar as part of the government resettlement program. While at first glance newcomers seem to ‘blend in’ with existing practices, we seek to identify the exchange of and negotiation between different types of knowledge, especially in regards to NR and water management.
• The situation of women and their possibilities to participate in community life vary among different ethnic groups. Bedouin women, for example, are more tied to the household than Saidi or Bahrawy women. Most wear the niqab when outside the house and participate less in community interactions than male member of Bedouin families. While in Talaat Dargham, women can frequently be seen outside the house, wearing hijabs or loose headscarves, this is not the case in Bedouin areas.
• Some areas of Abu Minqar are more ethnically diverse than others. Those areas that seem to be most ‘homogenous’, at least in ethnic/cultural terms, are those that are predominantly Bedouin/Arab. The most ‘ethnically diverse’ area is the new governmentvillage of
  Talaat Dargham.
• There seem to be especially close ties and connections between residents from the same ethnic background or place of origin. For example, in the governmentvillage of
  Talaat Dargham, women have voiced that the presence of other women and families from their home town was of enormous help, especially after their arrival in Abu Minqar. There is an informal ‘support group’ of women from Mansoura in Talaat Dargham who will exchange bread they bake once or twice a week, and help each other out with child supervision and odds and ends. Bedouin communities from Talaat Dargham, in turn, bond particularly strongly with Bedouins from other villages within the oasis. Community members seem better informed about news from members of the same ethnic group or place of origin, even if those do not reside in the same village within the oasis.
• Bedouin Mohammad Zidane marries 3^rd wife who is 13 years old, interestingly from non-Bedouin background. Women in Tala’at Dargham say it was a money based decision and the mother was unhappy about the wedding. The wife moved into a Tala’at Dargham house two houses down from her parents’ house (Dec 06)
• Ahmad from Salwa Hoda family says he does not have to marry a Bedouin girl, but it could be anyone, even a foreigner (Dec 06)

Infrastructure  

• A single electrical generator provides electricity to various communities of Abu Minqar. Electricity is still limited to supply at night time, 6 hours/day every evening, with the exception of Friday, which enjoys 2 extra hours during the prayer. A new electrical generator system is in process of being established, which will provide up to 14 hours/day to entire community. In July 2007, another generator expected which will provide 24 hours/day. Areas of Abu Minqar used to have different levels of electricity services – bir 4, for example has only just been hooked up to the electricity network as the new generator started its service.
• A water station provides filtered domestic water to Talaat Dargham and Abu Minqar for 2 hours/day. Water is pumped from a well specifically for domestic use. Well 4, 5, 6, 7 (and Um Abu Minqar during off-hours) take domestic water from underground wells, engaging in their own filtering system (typically with ziir’s).This may effect the gender division of labour and the requirement for the work of children, which will be researched during the coming months.
• An underground sewage system only exists in Talaat Dargham. A sewage reservoir is located beside police guardhouse. Problems exist in the sewage system. Villages other than Talaat Dargham have septic tanks (wc?) which are serviced by truck for 4 EGP/session.
• There are 3 schools in Abu Minqar, one in bir 5 that caters for students from bir 5, 6 and 7, one in bir 1, which is attended by students from Bir 1 and Talaat Dargham, and one in bir 4. None of the schools offer education beyond junior high school level. The nearest school that offers senior secondary education is located in Dakhla. At primary level, school classes are balanced in terms of gender, but at high school level, where education seizes to be government-funded, classes have a majority of male students. Some young female residents have complained about the difficult access to secondary and tertiary education, especially for women.

School Info 

School	No of students	No of teachers	Classes
Bir 1
Bir 5
Bir 4	42	8
Fasl wahid

School at bir 1:

School at bir 4: 42 students, 8 teachers (Selim’s family)

School at bir 5:

At school at Bir 1 there are no fees up to grade X, books cost 60 L.E. per student per year (Umm Mohammad)

school is not good (umm Mohamed)

• The overflow station near the ‘lake’ has been abandoned 10 years ago, because it was not working properly and too expensive to repair. 20 mio L.E.
• Umm Ibrahim complains that it is far for her daughter to walk to primary school from Tala’at Dargham to Umm Abu Minqar. She says it takes at least 15 minutes and children need to walk along the road. She feels the government should provide a school in Tala’at Dargham. In Mansoura every major street has a primary school for children, so children usually do not walk more than a few minutes (Dec 07

Social Interaction

In early January 2007, we had a bit of a serious incident involving Um Ibrahim and Adel. The night before last, we (Adel, Mohamed, myself and other DDC people) were in our house watching a movie. Um Ibrahim comes in and is being very loud so we have to stop watching the movie. Adel seems annoyed and he leaves the house without saying where he is going. Um Ibrahim stays for another 10 minutes or so and then leaves with Rania back to her home. Immediately afterwards we hear Um Ibrahim and Rania screaming so we go outside to see what is happening – Um Ibrahim is running towards our house with Rania in her arms, without her veil on, crying and talking rapidly in Arabic. We bring her inside, give her water and tell her to calm down. She then proceeds to tell us that she went into her home and when she entered her room there was somebody (also, an important point, Um Ibrahim’s husband was in Monsoura) inside. The individual grabbed her face, pulled her veil off her head and over her eyes and then jumped out of the window. She said, ‘it was Adel. It was Adel. He had the look of Adel.’ The little girl Rania started chanting, ‘yes, he had the look of Adel. He was wearing white and had a red scarf. He had the look of Adel.’ The way she was repeatedly chanting this phrase seemed a little bit strange to me. Anyway, we tell her to stay in our place so that we can go and look in her home to see if anyone has returned. No one was there. I return to Um Ibrahim because she was alone. Tawheid (a DDC engineer) and Mohamed slowly walked back to our house, and on the way, they see Adel walking towards them, coming in the direction of the forn and the backside of Talaat Dargham. Mohamed asks where he was (I think in a direct manner) and Adel says, ‘I was seeing a friend.’ Mohamed tells him briefly what Um Ibrahim had said and then Adel enters the house and there is a big altercation between the two of them. She starts accusing him of being inside her house and Adel keeps denying it, saying, ‘of course I wasn’t, why would I do that? I have no reason to do that.’ She replies, ‘It was you. You were the only one who knew I was out of my house and you left the Bet Abbiyad. Etc.’ To be honest, they both were acting strangely during this discussion so I cannot say whether one was more believable than the other. We say, ‘okay, we will go ask Adel’s friend and see if he has an alibi to verify that Adel could not have done it.’ Then Um Ibrahim starts crying and says, ‘Why does this happen to me?! My husband won’t let me see my kids. My sister is sick. My husband isn’t nice to me, and now this, I cannot take this!’ She starts being really aggresive towards Adel and we tell her to calm down and that we are going to Adel’s friends house. They each, Adel and Um Ibrahim, want us to act discreetly because their reputations are at stake and tell us to ask in a way where we don’t have to reveal the whole situation. Tawheid and Mohamed go to the man’s house and he basically says yes, Adel was here for a little while and then he left. Um Ibrahim says, ’see, he had time to come to my house’ and Adel says, ’see, I would not have had time. This is crazy, etc.’ It’s a long story, but basically Adel says that it was not him, and that if somebody was in her house, there are many many people that wear a red scarf. He swears that it was not him. Um Ibrahim keeps saying bad things about Adel and about how many problems she has. Adel was very upset because he knows that what she is saying will ruin his reputation. Ultimately, we took him home that night, told him that if he said he didn’t do it, we would believe him and that we’d try to resolve this. Um Ibrahim slept at our house because she was afraid, and the next day she was in and out of our place, offering us bread, a fish dinner, and all types of presents. We decided to leave right away because we were too much in the middle of the incident and weren’t helping. We also didn’t want Adel to think we were taking her side only.

Hopes / Future 

• Most residents of Abu Minqar do not seem to see a shortage of water as a problem. Describing the aim of the project is thus sometimes a contentious issue. Only one resident has referred to the finite nature of the Nubian aquifer as a potential future issue.
• The residents we have had conversations with expressed that continuous in-migration was not a problem, as long as there was enough water. There seems to be the general perception that ‘where there is water there will be more people’. How this perception will change as there is increased pressure on water with continuous in-migration is an interesting question.
• The biggest infrastructural ‘shortcoming’ residents see in the oasis is the limitation of electricity and water supplies. The absence of electricity, ‘clean flats’ and shops is what migrant women have named as the things miss when thinking of their home towns.
• Residents have mentioned the need to find an authority figure to attract community and to build upon the community’s potential, performance and knowledge; and, to find alternative solutions to the problems of the community through these means; to create a link between community in Abu Minqar and government in Kharga [capitol of Wadi al Gadid] and Cairo in order to provide infrastructural support (drinking water, electricity, sewer drainage, etc.); and to find financial, culture, psychological support for the NGOs in the Abu Minqar community.
• In interviews, farmers have voiced also the following concerns:

Regional Problems of Abu Minqar

[translation of verbatim quotes, recorded during the community meeting on Thursday 8 June, 2006]:

1. “Agriculture has been extended past planned land through irrigation.  Whereas other communities in Farafra were given rights to dig additional wells to service this new land in 2002, Abu Minqar has been denied such rights.
2. The farmers of additional land are not given local rights over the land insofar as the government and the workers have not agreed upon a contract expressing ownership.  The farmers desire ownership and thus legal rights over the land on which they labor.
3. The farmers request to have earth channels covered by cement walls to reduce the amount of water absorbed by the soil and lost through leakage.
4. The farmers desire approval from the local irrigation authority to dig more wells which will service poorly irrigated peripheral lands (where date palms had been cultivated unsuccessfully because of insufficient water supply).
5. The farmers request honest and disciplined authorities, who are committed to the people and agricultural development of Abu Minqar.  These authorities, whose goal is to maximize agricultural production and solve the community’s problems will serve as a guide to community members.”

• In January 2007, we hear from a small boy who accompanies ur around the fields in Bir1, that a child recently drowned when bathing. When we ask abou the reason, he says an affriet pulled him down into the water by the feet.

Economy and Markets 

• The internal marketing system is, as far as we know, unique to Abu Minqar. There does not exist a ‘central’ market where crops from the local agricultural fields are distributed. Private businessmen purchase local produce and sell crops on carts while circulating throughout Abu Minqar. Otherwise, a ‘neighborhood’ market system is in place. Families who have a large supply of milk or eggs or eggplant, etc. spread the word and neighbors stop by and purchase. Apart from this, there are several bakeries, and small shops that sell processed goods obtained from outside Abu Minqar
• Externally, agricultural produce from the oasis is marketed in a more organized way. Wheat produced by farmers in Abu Minqar is picked up by trucks belonging to the government at a price of 2 EGP/kilo[1]. Rice is picked up by trucks belonging to private individuals/businesses. Trucks can load 25 tons of rice, purchasing each rice from farmers for 1 EGP/kilo[2]. The external marketing system will be studied in more detail in the upcoming research phase
• Most productive/cost efficient farming operations, according to the majority of the villagers and testified to by the magnitude of the operation, is forage production (including animal operations). Egyptian Clover and ‘Higaazi’ Clover are grown in large quantities. Sold to private individuals – what are the prices, is government involved, who purchases?
• Residents of Abu Minqar breed livestock for both household requirements of for example milk, meat and eggs, and for commercial purposes. Animals are sold, mostly internally for the following prices: cow – 3,000 EGP; bull 8 – 10,000 EGP; donkey 300 – 600 EGP; camel 600 EGP
• The organization of the household economy in Abu Minqar is organized according to a clear gender division of labour. While men tend to the fields, irrigation, building activities, external marketing and internal marketing by cart, women mind the household, cook, wash, mind the children, look after livestock in the house and are involved in the informal door-to-door marketing of produce. Some women will assist with agricultural work, although there seems to be more prestige attached to those women who ‘do not have to’ work on the fields

·        Adel can make more money working two jobs in Abu Minqar than he could in
Cairo (Adel on felucca in November 06)

• Big camel in Tala’at Dargham cost between 5000 and 6000 L.E. (Sadat, Dec 06)
• The Salwa and Hodda family keep sheep and goats in an empty government house. Hodda says the family does not pay money to use the empty house. On confirmation with Umm Ibrahim, she says some families pay money to house owners to use their empty premises, others don’t. Ramadan uses several empty houses in Tala’at Dargham to raise livestock as a ‘cash crop’
• Different sources (Faroukh’s brother, Umm Ibrahim) confirmed that it costs 3000 L.E. year to rent the 5 feddans of a graduate who is not using his house and land. The ‘ist’ is 400 L.E. per year

                                                                                                   

Culture / Religion 

• Umm Ibrahim says women in Abu Minqar never go to Friday prayers at the mosque. She used to love going to Friday prayers in Mansoura but says in the oasis things are just different and women pray at home only. She says the new mosque in Tala’at Dargham will not include a room for women to pray either (Dec 06)

Governance 

• There seem to be several levels of governance and decision making in relation to irrigation and water management – higher up the water user organizations at artesian wells / government and pump operators at motorized wells, at a more individual level the water management decisions made on a daily basis at several points along the irrigation system, as farmers channel water from the bir to their fields
• People generally indicate that water governance and decision making runs smoothly
• Umm Ibrahim complains about the corruption in Egyptian government. She says every time the government provides money to improve things in Abu Minqar, the important policy people channel this money into their own pockets rather than providing it for policy or infrastructure change. She also says the government does not have enough information about the community and does not care enough. She says she is glad that God will punish the corrupt government officials eventually (Dec 06)

---

[1] This price coming from Mohamed Zidane, however we were told by another farmer that it was 1.25 EGP/kilo.

[2] This information was provided by Mahmoud (from Um Abu Minqar, farm in Bir 2) that his 4 feddan plot will produce 2 tons, or 10,000 kilos.

Bir Wahed case study – Chris

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 20^th 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: