Latest news with #CottonResearchInstitute
CairoScene
3 days ago
- Science
- CairoScene
Egyptian Cotton Grows in Sinai For the First Time
The ministry reported that the cotton plants showed healthy growth and produced high-quality fibres. Aug 14, 2025 Egypt has successfully cultivated cotton in the Sinai desert for the first time, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation. The achievement comes as part of a broader initiative to expand agricultural production into arid regions and make use of previously uncultivated land. The project, overseen by the ministry's Cotton Research Institute, involved planting cotton seeds in the North Sinai governorate. The experiment was conducted on a 10-feddan plot in the Rawafaa area, using modern irrigation techniques and soil improvement methods tailored to the desert environment. The ministry reported that the cotton plants showed healthy growth and produced high-quality fibres, comparable to those grown in Egypt's traditional Delta and Upper Egypt regions. The Sinai experiment is part of a national strategy to increase agricultural output, reduce reliance on imported raw materials, and create new job opportunities in remote areas. The ministry has indicated that the success of this pilot project could pave the way for larger-scale cotton cultivation across Sinai and other desert regions. Egyptian cotton, known for its long staple and high quality, has long been a key export and a symbol of the country's agricultural heritage. The ministry plans to monitor the results of the Sinai project throughout the current season and assess the potential for expanding the initiative.
Zawya
3 days ago
- Science
- Zawya
Egypt cultivates cotton in desert conditions for first time in South Sinai
Egypt's Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, Alaa Farouk, announced on Wednesday the successful completion of field trials by the Cotton Research Institute to grow cotton for the first time in a desert environment, in the city of El Tor, South Sinai. The trials used modern irrigation systems and optimised fertilisation techniques. Farouk said the breakthrough reflects the effective application of scientific research to practical farming, with benefits for both farmers and the national economy. He reaffirmed the ministry's commitment to supporting researchers and applied agricultural projects aimed at boosting productivity. Adel Abdel Azim, head of the Agricultural Research Center, explained that the trial involved six cotton genotypes, including 'Super Giza 86,' 'Super Giza 94,' and 'Super Giza 97,' as well as three new genotypes. The first harvest was completed just 127 days after planting, accelerated by the region's high temperatures. He added that the success demonstrates Egypt's research capabilities in developing crop varieties resilient to drought, salinity, and high heat—traits increasingly vital in addressing climate change challenges. Plans are now underway to replicate the model in other governorates and train farmers in the latest irrigation and farming techniques. © 2025 Daily News Egypt. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
Daily News Egypt
3 days ago
- Science
- Daily News Egypt
Egypt cultivates cotton in desert conditions for first time in South Sinai
Egypt's Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, Alaa Farouk, announced on Wednesday the successful completion of field trials by the Cotton Research Institute to grow cotton for the first time in a desert environment, in the city of El Tor, South Sinai. The trials used modern irrigation systems and optimised fertilisation techniques. Farouk said the breakthrough reflects the effective application of scientific research to practical farming, with benefits for both farmers and the national economy. He reaffirmed the ministry's commitment to supporting researchers and applied agricultural projects aimed at boosting productivity. Adel Abdel Azim, head of the Agricultural Research Center, explained that the trial involved six cotton genotypes, including 'Super Giza 86,' 'Super Giza 94,' and 'Super Giza 97,' as well as three new genotypes. The first harvest was completed just 127 days after planting, accelerated by the region's high temperatures. He added that the success demonstrates Egypt's research capabilities in developing crop varieties resilient to drought, salinity, and high heat—traits increasingly vital in addressing climate change challenges. Plans are now underway to replicate the model in other governorates and train farmers in the latest irrigation and farming techniques.
Al-Ahram Weekly
3 days ago
- Science
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Egypt achieves first-ever cotton cultivation in Sinai desert - Society
Egypt has successfully cultivated cotton in the desert of South Sinai for the first time, marking a breakthrough in the country's agricultural development. In a statement, Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation Alaa Farouk praised the efforts of researchers, scientists, and experts at the Agriculture Research Centre, notably the Cotton Research Institute, for their successful field trials of cultivating cotton in desert environments for the first time in El Tor city in South Sinai. Farouk noted that this achievement comes as a result of utilising research, studies, and applied scientific experiments, and putting them into practice on the ground. He highlighted that intensive efforts and field trials have proven the feasibility of cultivating and producing high-quality cotton for the first time in a desert environment, benefiting from modern irrigation techniques and appropriate fertilisation. Farouk further affirmed that scientific research is the driving force of agricultural development, stressing the ministry's commitment to providing full support to scientists, experts, and researchers from the agricultural and desert research centres, as well as various institutes and laboratories. This includes supporting applied research projects and offering all necessary facilities to researchers to turn laboratory results into tangible realities that benefit farmers and the national economy, the minister emphasised. For his part, Head of the Agriculture Research Centre Adel Abdel Azim stated that the first harvest cycle of cotton cultivation was completed 127 days after planting due to the high temperatures in South Sinai. He pointed out that this achievement demonstrates the ability of Egyptian research cadres to innovate solutions suited to the environmental and climatic challenges they face. Abdel Azim noted that scientists and experts at the centre are always focused on developing new crop varieties that can withstand drought, salinity, and high temperatures. He concluded that the successful field trials in El Tor city serve as a model for fruitful cooperation, announcing upcoming plans to replicate this model in other governorates. Additionally, Abdel Azim pointed to plans to train farmers to use the latest irrigation and cultivation techniques to ensure the highest productivity and best quality. This achievement aligns with Egypt's broader national strategies to combat desertification, expand agricultural land, and reclaim unused areas for productive farming. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
The Guardian
08-08-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
‘Leave it to nature': how enticing insects to kill off pests helped cut reliance on pesticides
While trying to come up with a pesticide solution to kill off bollworms, Dr Robert Mensah had his eureka moment. It was the 90s, and in Australia bollworms were devastating cotton farms, with the larvae of these moths chomping up the crops faster than farmers could eradicate them. The farmers were trapped in an arms race with the bollworms, applying more and more pesticide to combat an increasingly resistant species of pest – killing many beneficial insects in the process. Instead of carrying on down the death spiral, Mensah, an entomologist working at the Cotton Research Institute, began to wonder whether it might be possible to get another insect in to do the job. He experimented and eventually came up with a simple food spray, 'a mixture of food ingredients, yeast and sugar-based, diluted in water and applied to crops. It emits an odour which is picked up by beneficial predatory insects and attracts them to the fields where they kill pests.' He started testing it out in the fields and found that food sprays could entice useful predators such as ladybirds and lacewings. A refuge crop of evergreen alfalfa flowers could also support their populations year-round, so they wouldn't leave at the end of the season and be poisoned by pesticides in the surrounding landscape. It was the beginning of an international grassroots campaign, in which Mensah has worked with various charities to teach people about this sustainable farming method. Ever since the dangerous side effects of pesticides became widely known, alternatives have been sought. This approach to farming, which reduces our reliance on pesticides, is called integrated pest management. 'Integrated pest management is a concept that goes back to the 1950s,' says Dr Samantha Cook, a behavioural ecologist at the agricultural institute, Rothamsted Research. Before reaching for pesticides or less harmful substitutes such as pest-killing fungi and bacteria, there are a range of methods you can use to prevent pest populations from building. 'I like to think of it as an IPM triangle. At the base you've got management tools: If you rotate crops well, that helps to reduce pest populations building in the soil. Another key element is monitoring pest populations – deciding on thresholds above which the pest population needs to be controlled,' Cook says. Enticing natural predators is another of these management solutions, and the area in which Mensah specialises. 'Natural enemies are a good way of not relying on insecticides. If we can look after the things that eat the pests, we don't have to kill the pests ourselves, we can leave that to nature,' Cook says. In 2005, Mensah took food sprays to Benin, where the Pesticide Action Network (PAN UK) was helping farmers transition to organic farming. There, the misuse of chemical pesticides was seriously damaging people's health. 'I saw conventional farmers wash their chemical containers in a pool of water that the cattle came and drank from,' said Mensah 'Some of them used the chemical containers to store water for their families. The water itself was poisoned.' 'It was very sad because I came from Ghana, in a time when we were using DDT (a synthetic insecticide) to kill fish in the rivers, and then we would bring the fish home and eat them. I then moved to a developed country, where they know the risk posed by insecticides. So this was like going back to my roots and seeing the same thing being repeated.' 'That encouraged me to talk to them and advise them. They listened to me because they know I'm one of them.' The food sprays – cheap, safe and effective – caught on with farmers in Benin where thousands now use the technique. From there, Mensah took food sprays to southern Ethiopia, where they were also trialled successfully on vegetables as opposed to cotton, and then to Vietnam where they were used successfully on maize. Another charity, Better Cotton, is now trialling food sprays in India across Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Telangana, where they've trained 214,000 farmers to use sprays. But while the benefits are compelling, a spokesperson noted that they can be 'time consuming and labour intensive, because farmers are required to produce the formula, and then frequently spray and monitor its application'. This is one of the problems holding back sustainable pest management on a global scale. Pesticide spray may be expensive but they offer farmers a one-size-fits-all solution. Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion But entomologists tell us insects will inevitably become resistant to any chemical pesticide we invent. Marcel Dicke, professor of entomology at Wageningen University says: 'It's simple, insects are variable in genetic makeup, and you never eliminate 100% of them. Let's say 1% survives, and that 1% has a way of overcoming the pesticide. They transfer this genetic predisposition to the next generation, and so it spreads among the population. That's how insects – sometimes very quickly – can become resistant to pesticides.' Food sprays, says Dicke, are not a silver bullet technology, but they can be helpful in nourishing beneficial insects, alongside a range of other management techniques. 'Integrated pest management, which reintegrates a diversity of measures, says that you might use selective chemical pesticides as the very last resort when nothing else works.' And yet, despite promising results, sustainable pest management is getting harder to introduce, even in the UK where there's a consumer market for eco-friendly products. This isn't because farmers don't want change, says Dr Stephanie Williamson, who was a staff scientist at PAN UK for more than 20 years. 'Pesticides are a very small proportion of farmers' production costs in the UK, so there's no real economic driver to reduce insecticide use in this country. And most standard crop insurance will insist that you've taken all available measures to stop crop loss, which means using synthetic insecticides,' she says. 'The whole system does not currently support farmers to move towards more agroecological approaches. And unfortunately, the new government is cutting back its funding for nature-friendly farming, which is a real shame, because farmers are rethinking their methods, but there isn't enough government support for them to change. 'Supermarkets also need to put their money where their mouth is and help farmers shift to safer, more sustainable practices.' Prof Tariq Butt, a member of the UK Expert Committee on Pesticides, which provides independent advice to the government, says more research needs to be done into the efficacy of food sprays in different climates and agricultural systems. 'It's fantastic that they've utilised local materials and demonstrated that it's worked for smallholders in Ethiopia and other countries. It shows promise, but there are a lot of questions left to answer about food sprays,' he said.
