Breathing new life into Toshka

By Sarah Saad

In continuation of the Egyptian state’s efforts to implement giant development projects in all fields to provide a decent life for citizens, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces، Lieutenant General Osama Askar، witnessed the launch project  of  Water in the canal feeding the eastern Egyptian countryside project in the Toshka area, which comes within the framework  a number of projects that aim to increase the agricultural area and whose implementation is supervised by the armed forces.

Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, el-Sayed el-Qoseir, Governor of Aswan Ashraf Attia, and a number of leaders of the Armed Forces, media professionals, and representatives of the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation attended the event.

The ceremony began by presenting the executive position of the project, which was implemented by the Armed Forces in co-operation with the Ministries of Agriculture, Land Reclamation, Water Resources and Irrigation. The total  area of ​​the project was 140,000 acres, as the first phase of planting 40,000 acres that were planted last season has ended, and 100,000 acres are being cultivated, relying on two main irrigation stations to feed the project in Toshka.

The importance of the project is  the volume of water it provides to create integrated agricultural communities with advanced irrigation methods were also reviewed, in order to achieve significant economic returns to support the state’s efforts to achieve an agricultural boom in accordance with an integrated vision in the field of food security.

The Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces also witnessed the procedures for opening water at a number of main stations that aim to maximize the use of the volume of water to irrigate the lands of the project intended for agriculture.

It is worth noting that President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, President of the Republic and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, issued his directives on the need to go to Toshka, assess the situation, and find out the reasons for the obstacles facing the project. The project was launched in 1997 with the aim of working to solve the problems and benefit from the giant national project, which was represented by the presence of sand dunes, rocky land .

In July 2020, the mission to revive the Toshka project was launched through a coalition of (162) national companies and thousands of engineers, technicians, workers, equipment, and machines. The land was prepared , infrastructure was created, electricity stations were established, and water pumping stations were equipped for center-pivot irrigation devices, which are among the best and most modern methods of mechanized irrigation To save water consumption.

Thousands of acres were planted with wheat, palm trees and other crops for local consumption and export. The number of planted palm trees reached 1.5 million palm trees and the cultivated area reached 300,000 acres of wheat. The goal is to plant 2.3 million palm trees and cultivate an area of ​​650,000acres of wheat, to harvest one million. tons of wheat by the end of winter (2023-2024).