Help.. question about farming near the River Nile?
How do the Egyptians farm with the lack of silt (thick, fertile soil) caused by the Aswan Dam?
The agriculture and farming industry of Egypt was also directly impacted from the construction of the Dam. There were a few positives, but more negative effects resulted.
One of the positive effects on agriculture was that crops could be grown year round. A major reason for this was that the irrigation could be used to keep the crops growing during the dry months. Since the fear of flooding no longer existed, farmers were able to work in the fields year round. The High Dam created a 30% increase in the cultivable land in Egypt, and raised the water table for the Sahara as far away as Algeria (7).
The negative impacts on agriculture as a result of the Aswan Dam became very apparent. There was a huge loss of cultivable land as a result of the creation of Lake Nasser. Thick, fertile layers of silt captured by the Dam impacted the quality of soil downstream. When the Nile flooded every year it would pick up pieces of plant life and
Figure 5: farming along the banks of the Nile (4)
soil called silt. This silt is dropped off on the banks of the Nile as the flood recedes, and creates excellent topsoil that provides two or three crops every year (6). As a result of the silt being captured, farmers have to use more and more fertilizers every year. Farmers have been forced to use about a million tons of artificial fertilizers as a substitute for the nutrients, which no longer fill the flood plain (3). The agriculture industry has been considerably affected from the High Dam’s construction.
High Dam – Aswan, Nile River Valley, Egypt
