The desert climate around Beni Suef in Upper Egypt is hot and dry for most of the year. Temperatures approach 45 degrees Celsius in the summer, and there is little to no rainfall. Sustainable production is difficult in this region and becoming more challenging with the increasing impacts of climate change.
After the death of her husband, Huda was forced to accept life’s circumstances and raise her three children alone. Farming became Huda’s sole source of income. Fortunately, agriculture had been a passion for Huda since childhood. Unlike most women in her community, she was less interested in preparing food for the men of the family, than caring for her plants. Day-by-day she was fascinated as she watched her crops grow.
But while Huda grew potatoes and a few of the other crops that are common in the area where she lived, it was only when she joined the Khair Ardna agricultural project from Solidaridad and Danone Egypt that she was finally able to generate enough profit from her work as a farmer to support her family.
In Egypt, Solidaridad and Danone Egypt have launched Khair Ardna in an effort to improve production through more efficient farming techniques, support farmers’ capacity to implement good agricultural practices, and mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change.
Similar to other farmers, Huda believed that growing soybeans was not worth the effort. For most, an entire acre planted in soy would only produce a maximum of 900 kilograms with an extremely limited profit margin. However, training has helped Huda and others adjust their practices and find practical solutions that suited the region’s climate. The Khair Ardna project is showing farmers that soybeans can be profitable.
“We were taught better irrigation systems and schedules which saved the crops from suffering from drought.”
For example, farmers began practicing integrated crop management. For soybeans they utilized new fertilizers, such as potassium and magnesium sulfate, and practiced the foliar application of micronutrients. They also reduced the use of nitrogen fertilizer by relying on a bacterial inoculant that was supplied through the Khair Ardna project. This reduced the total amount of the more expensive nitrogen fertilizers needed by 85 percent.
Additionally, farmers developed a basic capacity for mitigating the impacts of climate change. This included the use of potassium silicate, which can improve a plant’s vital functions in the higher temperatures brought on by climate change.
Huda recalls with emotion how her lack of knowledge about these technical details in the past had led to a potato crop failure. She laments that she could have saved many of her previous crops and achieved a better profit for herself and her family.
“We used to leave soybean plants for more than 40 days without irrigation which was widely conceived among farmers that exposing soya plants to drought would contribute to increasing the number of flowers and thus increasing the yield, which has been a misconception. Through training sessions, we learned that the most successful irrigation approach is to manage irrigation intervals between 15 and 20 days while avoiding drought. This led to fantastic vegetative development and blooming, which significantly increased the yield.”
Huda goes on to say that the project went beyond simply teaching farmers about improved farming techniques. The training team also provided technical assistance on marketing, including ways to bring high-quality agricultural products to market to achieve the highest possible benefit for the farmer. In stark contrast to the past, most farmers participating in the project achieved good profit margins and benefited from the additional financial resources.
Huda adds that the technical team did not stop at soybeans but provided them with information on all staple crops, such as wheat, corn, beets and potatoes. She goes on to say that because the Khair Ardna project had such a positive impact on her land, its crops and her income, if a similar project were ever repeated in the region, she would join it without hesitation.
“The costs that burdened me have significantly decreased, and I was able to increase the quantity of the good soybean crops.“
Huda’s story is a powerful example of how simple shifts in perspective – skillful training – can have a profound impact on the livelihoods of farmers. Through her participation in the Khair Ardna programme, Huda’s growing profits not only help to support her family, but she continues to inspire others within the Egyptian farming community.