1. Consolidating Land Holdings as a Means to Improve Natural
Resources Management, Alleviate Poverty and Enhance Food
Security
WFP in Egypt has been supporting the Executive Agency for Rural Development Projcts
in the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, and a number of local community
associations in the Sohag Governorate to improve natural resource management among
smallholders by introducing land holding consolidation to increase land and water
management efficiency, enhance agricultural productivity, reduce cultivation costs and
increase revenue.
The WFP support programme sought to address a situation where over 60 percent of
land holders in the Egyptian villages own/rent less than one acre, while 90% own less
than 3 acres. This land fragmentation is one of the main drivers of poverty in rural Egypt
as it negatively affects the feasibility of farming in several ways. Firstly, the barriers
between smallholder land plots were estimated to cover 30-40% of the agricultural
areas, representing a major cause of land loss. These barriers also unduly reduce
irrigation efficiency by 10-20%.
Activities under the programme included:
- Awareness raising campaigns to introduce the concept, multi-dimensional
benefits, steps, challenges etc. of land holding consolidation
- Marking borders of original plots of land
- Conducting soil analysis for informed land planning and crop selection
- Signing bilateral contracts between the farmers and the project.
- Forming a committee to represent the beneficiaries. This committee is to be
authorized to make decisions and negotiate on behalf of the
- beneficiaries and its members are to be selected in a transparent and
participatory manner
- Providing technical assistance to the farmers on what to cultivate, what
treatments are to be applied, marketing support, etc.
- Applying agricultural mechanization, procuring seeds, cultivating the same
cropping pattern throughout the consolidated area
To encourage participation, the project covered all cultivation costs in the first
season. Beneficiaries also received a monthly food ration to compensate for their
wage for days in which they participated in the project activities. For

2. sustainability, the farmer’s contributions were gradually increased until ultimately
they were covering all costs by the fourth season.
The programme has reached over 50,000 people and has resulted in several
achievements, including:
- Improved land management resulting in 20-25% increase in the cultivated land
and subsequent increase in productivity due to the removal of the soil linings
around the small plots
- Improved water management resulted in10-15% reduction in irrigation water
usage due to the re-alignment of the irrigation channels. An equivalent reduction
of irrigation costs (pumps fuel) was also achieved.
- 15-20% savings on inputs expenditures achieved by wholesale procurements-15-
20% increase in farmer’s income as a result of reduced transportation costs and
improved ability to sell products
The project was designed to pilot this model in an area of 150 acres. Witnessing
its successful results, increasing numbers of beneficiaries adopted the model
where eventually 70% of the village land (2000 acres) was consolidated. The
Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation also announced adopting land
holding consolidation as a strategic priority.
Factors such as skepticism and conflicts among farmers were impeding. Local
NGOs played an effective role in overcoming these challenges.