Egypt's Economy
The Nile and Egyptian Farming
How the Nile has sustained Egyptian farming for millennia, how the Aswan High Dam changed agriculture, and why water scarcity threatens food production.
The Nile has fed Egypt for thousands of years.
Ancient flooding
Annual floods spread fertile silt, making farming possible in the desert.
Aswan High Dam
- Completed in 1970, it controls floods and stores water in Lake Nasser.
- It enabled year-round irrigation and hydroelectric power.
- But it trapped silt, so farmers now rely on fertiliser.
Crops
Wheat, rice, cotton (famous long-staple Egyptian cotton), fruit and vegetables.
Water scarcity
- Egypt gets almost all its fresh water from the Nile.
- Per person water is very low and falling as population grows.
Food imports
Egypt is one of the world’s largest wheat importers.
The delta farmer
A farmer in the Nile Delta grows rice and vegetables with canal water, but salt creeping in from the sea threatens his fields.
Thinking the Aswan dam had only benefits
It trapped silt that once fertilised fields.
Key takeaways
- The Nile sustains Egyptian farming.
- The Aswan High Dam was completed in 1970.
- Water per person is very low.
- Egypt imports large amounts of wheat.
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