Cropping Pattern to Increase Food Security

Abstract

The objective of this chapter is to quantify the effect of using polycropping on increasing food security in the five agro-climatic zones of Egypt. Our results indicated that food gaps in Egypt can be decreased by increasing polycropping, where intercropping techniques and cultivation of three crops per year were implemented. Using intercropping systems for wheat, faba bean, maize, sunflower, and cowpea can increase its cultivated area to high percentage, 20 and 22%, respectively. Whereas, faba bean, sunflower, and cowpea cultivated area can be increased to very high percentage, reaching 611, 5500 and 128,186%, respectively. These high percentages of increase were a result of implementing intercropping and cultivation of three crops per year. Our results also showed that there was no need to apply extra irrigation water to cultivate the middle crop between winter and summer, namely short season clover or sunflower because it can be obtained from cultivation of all the suggested cropping systems on raised beds. Thus, the proposed cropping pattern can increase the national cultivated area by 35%, compared to current cultivated area in 2014/15. Moreover, the increase in the cultivated area will not consume extra irrigation water.