Nexus of Crop Water Productivity to Sources of Irrigation Water: the Case of Wheat Farms in Egypt and Sudan

EasyChair Preprint no. 11285, version 3

Abstract

With the advance of climate change, population growth, and competition for limited water supply, efficient utilization of water resources in Egypt and Sudan has become of more pertinent than ever. This study aims to compare the impacts of source of irrigation water on water productivity (WP) of wheat in both countries. Endogenous switching regression was applied to data from a systematic sample of 1,272 wheat growing farms to identify the determinants of the choice of water source and its impact on WP in both countries. Results show that 23% and 3% of wheat farms are irrigated from underground water with an average WP of 0.899 and 0.137 kg per m3 of wheat in Egypt and Sudan, respectively. WP which is 0.039 kg/m3 higher was attributed to irrigation from the Nile in Egypt while in Sudan, underground water led to the 0.072 kg/m3 higher WP relative to the use of irrigation water from the Nile. Adoption of improved production technologies such as the recommended number and interval of irrigations and the use of recommended input levels were significant determinants of WP in both countries. Membership in cooperatives and large schemes led to higher levels of irrigation water withdrawal from the Nile in Egypt while adoption of irrigation technologies, share of wheat in total land holding and amount of water available from the Nile are significant determinants of underground water pumping for wheat production in Sudan. The study recommends focused utilization of underground water and introduction of water saving techniques in Sudan and efficient planning to blend Nile and underground water for wheat self-sufficiency in Egypt.

Keyphrases: Egypt, Endogenous Switching Regression, Sudan, water productivity, wheat

@Booklet{EasyChair:11285,
  author = {Elrashid Abdallah Fageer and Enas Mohamed Abbas Saleh and Yigezu A. Yigezu},
  title = {Nexus of Crop Water Productivity to Sources of Irrigation Water: the Case of Wheat Farms in Egypt and Sudan},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint no. 11285},

  year = {EasyChair, 2023}}