Egypt seeks to find innovative solutions to its water shortage and to anticipate the risk of potential water poverty in the future. But the solution lies in agricultural crops that provide water, and which offer themselves as part of these solutions.
According to research conducted at the Sugar Crops Research Institute of the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture, Stevia is one of the most important plants. It consumes half the amount of water needed for sugar cane and beet crops, and extracts sweetened sweetness of 200 times the sweetness of sugar. Which is derived from cane and beet, and is not calorie-free.
The head of the Sugar Crops Research Institute, Ahmed Mustafa, told Sky News Arabia that the expansion of the Stevia plant is being considered for adoption and to be used in food desalination, without fear of obesity or diabetes.
He added that the sweetened substance extracted from this plant is different from normal sugar, in that it does not leave glucose in the body, that is, it only gives the taste of sugar without calories, and hence the plant is a friend of diabetes.
Mustafa said that the institute has conducted research on the plant Istivea has reached the validity of agriculture in Egypt, in terms of the possibility of high temperatures and abundant productivity and limited consumption of water, as it is a durable plants and its duration in the soil ranges from 5 to 7 years.
The production of one acre of this plant is equal to the production of 27 acres of cane and 81 acres of beets, while it does not require more than 6000 cubic meters of water to grow, which is equivalent to half the needs of reeds and beets of water. The area planted with beets in Egypt is about 525 thousand acres , And the area under cane is 325 thousand feddans.
"Stevia is not a substitute for regular sugar," he said. "It does not provide the body with the energy it needs, it provides a solution for diabetics and protects against weight gain."
Egypt annually produces about 2.2 million tons of sugar from cane and beet, while domestic consumption amounts to 3.2 million tons, and Egypt is resorting to import to compensate for this gap. Hence, the research institute relies on Stevia plant to compensate for this difference and provide the sugar import bill.
While the Cairo Water Week continues to discuss the issue of water management in line with the objectives of sustainable development, the Sugar Crops Research Institute has conducted further research on the technology of sugarcane irrigation in large areas of the desert. The research found that this method of irrigation provides about 50 Percent of water, while at the same time producing a higher productivity of 50 tons per feddan.
Research reveals the Egyptian state's tendency to settle less water-consuming crops and reduce the cultivation of its most consumed crops, especially after per capita water has fallen to 570 cubic meters per year, well below the global average of 1,000 cubic meters per capita.
