Introduction to “Climate Change Impacts on Agriculture and Food Security in Egypt”
11
Several efforts must be taken into consideration such as enhancing the health of pollinators “honeybees and solitary bees,” avoid extensive using of chemical pesticides,
encourage local farmers for cultivating bee-friendly plants and protecting the natural
nesting habitats of solitary bees. Promote the ecological intensification strategy such
as intercropping, crop rotations, farm-level diversification, and reduced agrochemical use for promoting biodiversity beneficial to agricultural production. Therefore, it
is strongly recommended to mitigate the potential adverse impacts of climate change
on the diversity and efficiency of insect pollinators, especially, managed honeybees
and other solitary bee species.
The third chapter in this section is titled “Change of Agricultural Calendar as a
Response to Climate Variability”. It demonstrates the need for farmers to adjust their
agricultural calendar and switch to farming practices that make better use of natural
resources. Climate change often has an indirect impact on agricultural production
by affecting the development and distribution of crop pests and animal diseases,
increasing the rate and spread of harmful diseases, weather conditions, decreasing
water supply and irrigation, and increasing soil erosion severity. Important agricultural adaptation methods include new crop varieties and animal species suitable for
drier situations, irrigation, crop divarication, implementation of mixed crop and livestock farming systems, and changes in the dates of agricultural activity. In response
to short-term climate variability, some of these methods (e.g., changes in agricultural
activity dates) are classified as coping responses. Many factors and critical information, including plant calendars, are considered [11]. In its growth cycle, the sequential
series of various phenological stages of a crop determines the so-called crop calendar
[12].
Crop calendars provide the timing of crop sowing, growing, and harvesting periods. Different sources of information were used on crop calendars. There is no
research focusing on how farmers in the face of climate change are adapting their
entire agricultural calendar. Thus, as a response to climate variability in Egypt, this
chapter aims to explore observed changes in the agricultural calendar. It also aims
to illustrate the factors affecting the decision of farmers to adjust their agricultural
calendar as a climate variability coping mechanism.
Land surface phenology (LSP) metrics were used as a default for crop calendars
and criteria such as the beginning and end of the season were applied to identify the
pixel-level growth period of active agricultural vegetation.
The chapter titled “Projected Crop Coefficients Under Climate Change in Egypt”
addresses the quantification of how climate change will affect the values of crop
coefficient (Kc) for several important crops in Egypt in 2030 as this is very important in the management of water resources in the future. Projection of Kc values for
the cultivated crop is important for the future planning of water resources. The available weather data in 2030 contained only solar radiation and temperature (maximum
and minimum), which not enough to calculate evapotranspiration (ETo) using the
Penman-Monteith equation (P-M). To overcome that, the monthly values of ETo in
2016 were calculated using the Penman-Monteith equation (P-M) and HargreavesSamani equation (H-S). Then, the monthly ETo (H-S) values were regressed on the
11
Several efforts must be taken into consideration such as enhancing the health of pollinators “honeybees and solitary bees,” avoid extensive using of chemical pesticides,
encourage local farmers for cultivating bee-friendly plants and protecting the natural
nesting habitats of solitary bees. Promote the ecological intensification strategy such
as intercropping, crop rotations, farm-level diversification, and reduced agrochemical use for promoting biodiversity beneficial to agricultural production. Therefore, it
is strongly recommended to mitigate the potential adverse impacts of climate change
on the diversity and efficiency of insect pollinators, especially, managed honeybees
and other solitary bee species.
The third chapter in this section is titled “Change of Agricultural Calendar as a
Response to Climate Variability”. It demonstrates the need for farmers to adjust their
agricultural calendar and switch to farming practices that make better use of natural
resources. Climate change often has an indirect impact on agricultural production
by affecting the development and distribution of crop pests and animal diseases,
increasing the rate and spread of harmful diseases, weather conditions, decreasing
water supply and irrigation, and increasing soil erosion severity. Important agricultural adaptation methods include new crop varieties and animal species suitable for
drier situations, irrigation, crop divarication, implementation of mixed crop and livestock farming systems, and changes in the dates of agricultural activity. In response
to short-term climate variability, some of these methods (e.g., changes in agricultural
activity dates) are classified as coping responses. Many factors and critical information, including plant calendars, are considered [11]. In its growth cycle, the sequential
series of various phenological stages of a crop determines the so-called crop calendar
[12].
Crop calendars provide the timing of crop sowing, growing, and harvesting periods. Different sources of information were used on crop calendars. There is no
research focusing on how farmers in the face of climate change are adapting their
entire agricultural calendar. Thus, as a response to climate variability in Egypt, this
chapter aims to explore observed changes in the agricultural calendar. It also aims
to illustrate the factors affecting the decision of farmers to adjust their agricultural
calendar as a climate variability coping mechanism.
Land surface phenology (LSP) metrics were used as a default for crop calendars
and criteria such as the beginning and end of the season were applied to identify the
pixel-level growth period of active agricultural vegetation.
The chapter titled “Projected Crop Coefficients Under Climate Change in Egypt”
addresses the quantification of how climate change will affect the values of crop
coefficient (Kc) for several important crops in Egypt in 2030 as this is very important in the management of water resources in the future. Projection of Kc values for
the cultivated crop is important for the future planning of water resources. The available weather data in 2030 contained only solar radiation and temperature (maximum
and minimum), which not enough to calculate evapotranspiration (ETo) using the
Penman-Monteith equation (P-M). To overcome that, the monthly values of ETo in
2016 were calculated using the Penman-Monteith equation (P-M) and HargreavesSamani equation (H-S). Then, the monthly ETo (H-S) values were regressed on the