Exploring Changes in the Agricultural
Calendar as a Response to Climate
Variability in Egypt
El-Sayed Ewis Omran
Abstract Adaptation to climate change should involve changes in agricultural management practices in response to changes in climate conditions. This chapter reviews
agricultural adaptation strategies in Egypt in cushioning the effects of climate change.
Widely known agricultural adaptation techniques utilized by farmers included the use
of drought-resistant crop varieties, crop diversification, changes in crop pattern and
planting schedule, soil moisture conservation via suitable tillage practices, improved
irrigation efficiency, and forestry and agro-forestry. Crop calendars include information on the timing of periods of crop sowing, growing, and harvesting. A huge
number of literature take into consideration the techniques established by farmers
to deal with climate variability. However, there is no literature on how exactly the
agricultural calendar is presently moving. The current chapter is exploring observed
changes in the agricultural calendar as a response to climate variability in Egypt.
Land surface phenology (LSP) metrics were used as a proxy for crop calendars and
criteria like those of season start and end (SOS and EOS respectively) were applied
to classify the pixel-level growth period of active agricultural vegetation. Indeed,
this information is not crop-specific, and therefore it is still applicable to use crop
calendars from reliable sources which provide crop-specific phenological timing
like sowing, growing, and harvesting. It was observed that seasons have shifted and
shortened. For instance, in Egypt, the short dry season, which started in August,
has shifted to July. In conclusions, there is a shift in cropping areas in Egypt due
to gradual climate changes. The chapter has demonstrated the need for farmers to
adjust their agricultural calendar and switch to agricultural practices that make better
use of natural resources.
Keywords Agricultural calendar · Climate variability · Egypt · Climate change ·
Adaptation
E.-S. E. Omran (B)
Soil and Water Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Suez Canal University, Ismailia 41522, Egypt
e-mail: ee.omran@gmail.com
Department of Natural Resources, Institute of African Research and Studies, Aswan University,
Aswan, Egypt
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
E.-S. E. Omran and A. M. Negm (eds.), Climate Change Impacts on Agriculture and Food
Security in Egypt, Springer Water, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41629-4_12
249
Calendar as a Response to Climate
Variability in Egypt
El-Sayed Ewis Omran
Abstract Adaptation to climate change should involve changes in agricultural management practices in response to changes in climate conditions. This chapter reviews
agricultural adaptation strategies in Egypt in cushioning the effects of climate change.
Widely known agricultural adaptation techniques utilized by farmers included the use
of drought-resistant crop varieties, crop diversification, changes in crop pattern and
planting schedule, soil moisture conservation via suitable tillage practices, improved
irrigation efficiency, and forestry and agro-forestry. Crop calendars include information on the timing of periods of crop sowing, growing, and harvesting. A huge
number of literature take into consideration the techniques established by farmers
to deal with climate variability. However, there is no literature on how exactly the
agricultural calendar is presently moving. The current chapter is exploring observed
changes in the agricultural calendar as a response to climate variability in Egypt.
Land surface phenology (LSP) metrics were used as a proxy for crop calendars and
criteria like those of season start and end (SOS and EOS respectively) were applied
to classify the pixel-level growth period of active agricultural vegetation. Indeed,
this information is not crop-specific, and therefore it is still applicable to use crop
calendars from reliable sources which provide crop-specific phenological timing
like sowing, growing, and harvesting. It was observed that seasons have shifted and
shortened. For instance, in Egypt, the short dry season, which started in August,
has shifted to July. In conclusions, there is a shift in cropping areas in Egypt due
to gradual climate changes. The chapter has demonstrated the need for farmers to
adjust their agricultural calendar and switch to agricultural practices that make better
use of natural resources.
Keywords Agricultural calendar · Climate variability · Egypt · Climate change ·
Adaptation
E.-S. E. Omran (B)
Soil and Water Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Suez Canal University, Ismailia 41522, Egypt
e-mail: ee.omran@gmail.com
Department of Natural Resources, Institute of African Research and Studies, Aswan University,
Aswan, Egypt
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
E.-S. E. Omran and A. M. Negm (eds.), Climate Change Impacts on Agriculture and Food
Security in Egypt, Springer Water, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41629-4_12
249