RUDN Ecologists Show How to Improve Agriculture in the Nile Valley

RUDN ecologists with colleagues from Egypt conducted a detailed analysis of the soil in the agricultural region of Egypt. The authors named the main limiting factors and showed how to improve the suitability and quality of the soil for growing crops. The results are published in Land.

Increasing production rates is possible to grow yields, but this requires increasing the use of pesticides and other toxic chemicals. All this has negative consequences for the environment and human health. Another option is to optimize soil use. To do this, one need to know exactly its “weak points” in each specific region. Compiling such a dossier is possible only with the help of a comprehensive analysis. RUDN ecologists with colleagues from Egypt studied soils in a large agricultural region of Egypt and named the main limiting factors. A detailed analysis showed how to improve the suitability of land for agriculture.

“Food security in the world is becoming one of the most serious problems of mankind. Pesticides and fertilizers have a negative impact on the environment. Soil itself can bridge the food demand gap. If properly managed, it is one of the most important natural resources. To appreciate its capabilities, you need to study all its properties. Such an analysis will help create management scenarios for farmers and authorities and achieve sustainable land use,” said Dmitry Kucher, PhD, Head of the Scientific Center for Research, Integrated Design and Development of Urban and Agricultural of RUDN University.

RUDN ecologists have explored an area of 797 square kilometers in the north-west of Egypt, in the valley of the Nile River. To build an accurate physical map of the area, the experts used satellite imagery. The researchers took soil samples at 15 points that corresponded to different zones and studied the chemical and physical properties. To analyze all this data together, the authors used multivariate analysis – principal component analysis and cluster analysis. They take into account many system parameters at once, while simplifying the data and not losing information.

Agronomists have identified four clusters in the region, depending on the expected productivity and suitability for agriculture. The first, with the highest productivity, occupied 32% of the study area. The second and subsequent clusters occupied 38%, 28% and 2%, respectively, as performance decreased. According to suitability, the lands were divided into five groups. Depending on the control scenario, these groups will move into each other. In the optimal scenario, moderately usable and unusable lands will become usable. To do this, it is necessary to get rid of the main limiting factors. There were five of them in this region: increased soil salinity, high sodium content, poor drainage, calcium carbonate deposits and rough soil texture.

“We used multivariate analysis and assessed soil quality. This will provide the region’s authorities with valuable information on key limiting factors in order to improve management practices. The findings show how important good governance is. It will help to achieve agricultural sustainability in conditions of intensive land use in drylands,” said Elsayed Said Mohamed Salama, Professor of the Department of Environmental Management at RUDN University and Professor of the National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences (Cairo, Egypt).