Rice Production in Egypt: The Challenges of Climate Change …
299
in the Nile Delta have converted to intensive paddy rice despite the implications of
some of commonly used practices on soil quality, environment and natural resources
which have been mostly ignored in most of the developing countries [1].
According to the Egyptian agriculture calendar, rice is a summer crop. Rice areas
in Egypt have steadily increased after the construction of the nationwide irrigation
network in the 19th century. Rice cultivations is usually rotated with cotton and maize
cultivation in the two types of crop rotation commonly carried out in the Nile Delta
(i.e. two-year and three-year rotation systems) [12]. Those rotation systems present
two patterns of crop rotation in Egypt, one of them include rice with the rotation (i.e.
berseem, wheat, rice, cotton, maize, and beans) and other without rice (i.e. berseem,
cotton, wheat, maize, beans, and vegetables) [1]. There is limited potential for an
additional increase of the rice area in Egypt because of rice is high water consumption
crop thus all area has to be irrigated therefore the supply of irrigation water is the
most important limiting factor. Moreover, many other factors, including soil type,
climate, also controlling the choice of suitable areas for rice cultivation. On the other
hand, there are many economic factors should be considered by the farmers like
yield, cost, farm-gate price, and net return to take a decision regarding cultivate or
not cultivate rice [2].
4 The Potential of Paddy Soils for Carbon Sequestration
The soil is an important part of the global carbon (C) cycle and has the double
potential to store C than the atmosphere. The SOC plays a vital role in enhancing
soil fertility as well as sustaining soil productivity because of its influences on soil
physical, chemical, and biological properties. Furthermore, climate change feedback
and crop productivity in agricultural soils essentially depend on SOC dynamics and C
storage [16–19]. The SOC sequestration in cropland could reduce agricultural GHGs
by approximately 90% by improved management practices, such as minimum or no
tillage, fertilization, perennial or extended cropping systems, manure application,
crop residue recycling, and irrigation practices … etc. [20, 21]. As well, changes in
SOC are affected by many management practices, such as fertilizer application, straw
return, and tillage. However, SOC is always not sensitive to short-term changes in
agricultural management practices because of large background levels of SOC [21].
The concentration of atmospheric CO 2 in has increased from 280 µmol mol
−1
before the industrial revolution to 391 µmol mol
−1 in 2011. Much attention has
been paid to carbon (C) sequestration for reducing the CO 2 concentration to mitigate
global climate change [14, 22, 20, 23]. Soil acts both as source for greenhouse gases
(GHGs) (by releasing CO 2 and CH 4 to the atmosphere through soil respiration and
anaerobic decomposition) and sink of GHGs by sequestering SOC [18, 23] depending
on soil use and management [22]. Concerns regarding rising atmospheric CO 2 levels
have driven considerable interest recently concerning the potential of SOC as a sink
for atmospheric CO 2 . Because of the important role of SOC in terrestrial ecosystems
and its large stock, minor changes in SOC due to disturbances, such as changes in
299
in the Nile Delta have converted to intensive paddy rice despite the implications of
some of commonly used practices on soil quality, environment and natural resources
which have been mostly ignored in most of the developing countries [1].
According to the Egyptian agriculture calendar, rice is a summer crop. Rice areas
in Egypt have steadily increased after the construction of the nationwide irrigation
network in the 19th century. Rice cultivations is usually rotated with cotton and maize
cultivation in the two types of crop rotation commonly carried out in the Nile Delta
(i.e. two-year and three-year rotation systems) [12]. Those rotation systems present
two patterns of crop rotation in Egypt, one of them include rice with the rotation (i.e.
berseem, wheat, rice, cotton, maize, and beans) and other without rice (i.e. berseem,
cotton, wheat, maize, beans, and vegetables) [1]. There is limited potential for an
additional increase of the rice area in Egypt because of rice is high water consumption
crop thus all area has to be irrigated therefore the supply of irrigation water is the
most important limiting factor. Moreover, many other factors, including soil type,
climate, also controlling the choice of suitable areas for rice cultivation. On the other
hand, there are many economic factors should be considered by the farmers like
yield, cost, farm-gate price, and net return to take a decision regarding cultivate or
not cultivate rice [2].
4 The Potential of Paddy Soils for Carbon Sequestration
The soil is an important part of the global carbon (C) cycle and has the double
potential to store C than the atmosphere. The SOC plays a vital role in enhancing
soil fertility as well as sustaining soil productivity because of its influences on soil
physical, chemical, and biological properties. Furthermore, climate change feedback
and crop productivity in agricultural soils essentially depend on SOC dynamics and C
storage [16–19]. The SOC sequestration in cropland could reduce agricultural GHGs
by approximately 90% by improved management practices, such as minimum or no
tillage, fertilization, perennial or extended cropping systems, manure application,
crop residue recycling, and irrigation practices … etc. [20, 21]. As well, changes in
SOC are affected by many management practices, such as fertilizer application, straw
return, and tillage. However, SOC is always not sensitive to short-term changes in
agricultural management practices because of large background levels of SOC [21].
The concentration of atmospheric CO 2 in has increased from 280 µmol mol
−1
before the industrial revolution to 391 µmol mol
−1 in 2011. Much attention has
been paid to carbon (C) sequestration for reducing the CO 2 concentration to mitigate
global climate change [14, 22, 20, 23]. Soil acts both as source for greenhouse gases
(GHGs) (by releasing CO 2 and CH 4 to the atmosphere through soil respiration and
anaerobic decomposition) and sink of GHGs by sequestering SOC [18, 23] depending
on soil use and management [22]. Concerns regarding rising atmospheric CO 2 levels
have driven considerable interest recently concerning the potential of SOC as a sink
for atmospheric CO 2 . Because of the important role of SOC in terrestrial ecosystems
and its large stock, minor changes in SOC due to disturbances, such as changes in