Under the framework of the project: “Water harvesting and Good Agriculture practices for improved livelihoods and increased and sustainable production in Matrouh rain-fed agricultural areas”, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has distributed, in the second phase of the project, 115 goats to 23 breadwinner women, with a total of 5 goats per woman, and a half ton of feed.
The project, implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation (MALR) and funded by the European Union via its Joint Rural Development Programme (EU-JRDP), increases income generation, and aims at improving living conditions and household-level nutrition, especially for children.
The event was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, EU-JRDP, the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, as well as representatives of the Governor of Matrouh, the Directorate of Agriculture, the Cooperative Agricultural Societies, the Agricultural Guidance Centres of the Governorate; and representatives of agricultural associations and syndicates; and farmers and breeders from Matrouh.
Last July, FAO had distributed 135 goats to 27 women breadwinners in Matrouh.
“We are here today to complete what we started in July. The total distributed in two phases is 250 heads of sheep (goat) for 50 women in four centres in the governorate to help these women and their families improve their income and improve nutrition,” said Hussein Gadin, FAO Representative in Egypt. For them and their children, and in both stages we provide these women with tools to make different dairy products after giving them the appropriate training so that there is integration with the processes of education and manufacturing in order to increase income, improve standard of living and improve nutrition for the whole family, he explained.
In addition to the distribution of sheep to dependent women, the “Water harvesting and Good Agriculture practices for improved livelihoods and increased and sustainable production in Matrouh rain-fed agricultural areas” project also works the creation of 400 new water harvesting wells with a capacity of 100 cubic meters per well. The first 25 wells have been drilled already. It helps improve good agricultural practices and mechanisms in 100 farms; cultivate 2000 feddans of barley and improved wheat, of which 1000 feddans have already been cultivated; distribute 2000 chickens to 50 women, 40 chickens per woman, and secure 30 thousand head of goats and sheep.
The project supplies 50 home gardens equipped with a small well, network of irrigation, water motor, protection network and seedlings of vegetables and fruit with the provision of technical support. Ten gardens have been equipped and the work is going on in the other 40. It creates 25 modern olive farms with a well, irrigation network, seedlings and a water pump for each farm; also improves rangeland through the cultivation of seedlings and seeds that adapt to drought conditions in the region.
Watani International
15 October 2018