s one exits Cairo, leaving the Pyramids of Giza behind, realization soon dawns of the harshness of the environment and the fragility of the natural resource base, typical of much of Egypt. Thanks to efforts made by government and the private sector, green farms interrupt the large stretches of pure sand on either side of the desert road to Alexandria. The welcoming green patches, plantations of olive, date, banana, citrus, and several food and feed crops, all depend on water brought by canal or drawn from deep wells.

     After a couple of hours' drive, the road approaches the Mediterranean coast and splits, to the east going to Alexandria and to the west marching to the Libyan border. We head west, flanked on our right by festive seaside holiday resorts. The landscape to our left, however, speaks more of hard work in a tough environment--fig trees planted on dry patches of land, an attempt by the local people to eke a living. Our destination is far from the holiday crowds, a stretch of land along the northwest coast, the site of pastoral communities where people struggle to earn a living, but find themselves trapped in a cycle of poverty and resource degradation. We are going there to visit the Matrouh Resource Management Project, which is working to break this cycle in an area that stretches 320 km along the coast and some 60 km inland.

    The project area is semi desert, moderated by maritime influences in the more populated north. The main source of water is rainfall, which is low and extremely erratic. It averages 150 mm on the coast, but deceases drastically beyond 20 km inland. Agriculture is the main source of livelihood for 70% of the population, mostly Bedouins who have traded nomadic life for scattered settlements and sedentary agriculture. They produce barley, figs, and olives, and raise livestock, mainly sheep and goats. Most of the area is rangeland; cultivated land accounts for only 7% of total area. It is the least developed area on the northwest coast, and has the most degraded resources. Its physiography and geohydrology are ideal, however, for water harvesting, which could serve as the basis for agricultural development.

Recognizing the problems of resource development and institutional constraints, the Project has worked to:

• Enhance availability and use-efficiency of water, soil, and biodiversity through implementation of research-based improved resource development and conservation technologies;
• Introduce improved germplasm of crop, range plants, and livestock, along with improved production practices, through a farming-systems approach;
• Create employment opportunities and sources of income for project beneficiaries, particularly rural women, by supporting small scale income-generating projects;
• Build up the skills and capacity of human resources by training project staff and beneficiaries, including rural women; and
• Monitor and evaluate the environmental and socioeconomic impact of the Project.
• To realize these objectives, the Projects' research and development programs include:
• Development and conservation of natural resources--soil, water, and vegetative cover;
• Adaptive research for production of crops, range, and livestock in an integrated manner;
• Extension, training, and social development, including rural women in development;
• Provision of credit and rural finance for small scale income-generating projects; and
• Management, including monitoring and evaluation of performance and impact.

      Participatory approaches to research and development have been followed. Management is decentralized and the efforts of researchers, extensionists, development agents, and farmers have been integrated. The Project Area  is divided into five sub-regional support centers (SRSC) and the population has been grouped into 38 local communities. An 'integrated watershed planning approach' that treats the whole watershed as a development unit, has helped ensure resource sustainability and social equity. A 'farming systems research approach' that treats the farm as an agricultural development unit has helped promote adoption of suitable technologies. And a 'community action planning approach' that addresses each community as a social development unit has ensured effective community participation.

     After viewing a map of the Project area, we drive from headquarters to Wadi El-Matareih. The scatter of small pyramids made of piles of stone attracts immediate attention. Come close and you see the cisterns, built by the communities, with expert advice and support from the Project staff. Each cistern can hold about 300 m3 of harvested rainwater, for domestic use, for livestock, and for supplemental irrigation for herbs or other high value crops. Community members Nassif and Jueda grow a patch of mint, Lucerne, and pepper, fertilized with sheep manure. They also grow rainfed barley using improved seeds provided by the Project, based on the research done in collaboration with ICARDA. They have enjoyed a 60% increase in barley yield.

     Advance a little and you see the wadies, indentations formed by water flow during the rainy season. Now dry, they would hold sizable streams if a flash rainstorm were to occur; and, if left to nature, the precious water would all be lost to the Mediterranean Sea. The farmers' need is too great to allow that. They have built dykes that allow them to grow crops, including vegetables, on land reclaimed on the down-stream side of the wadies. The Project hydrologist and engineer have helped in the design of these dykes, based on careful monitoring of rainfall and precise measurements of the terrain. On the wadi tips, the Project is promoting farming practices that will result in water infiltration, prevent soil erosion, and provide additional income to farmers. Fig, olive, and other tree crops are taking root.

     Wadi El-Matarieh also has so-called selected range management areas (SRMAs), each comprising more than 100 feddans (1 feddan = 0.42 hectares), and each assigned to a Bedouin bait, or clan. The land is allocated for deferred grazing on fodder shrubs and for production of annual cereal and legume crops. The SRMA we visited had 125 feddans set aside for fodder shrubs (Acacia sp., Atriplex sp.) and deferred grazing, 15 feddans for annual legumes, and 15 feddans for barley-legume rotation. It had a cistern to accumulate 350 m3 of harvested water, a shed for 50 sheep and goats, and an animal cart to transport fodder after harvest. The women are also provided

poultry and beehives to generate additional income. The healthy goats and turkeys feeding near the house of the bait, and the bright faces of the children playing hide and seek with us from behind the wall of the farm house were testimony that the system is working. A total of 250 SRMAs are operating in the project area, as a pre-extension test.

    We travel on to El-Sequifa. Land here is less stony and the soil cover thicker than in Wadi El-Matarieh. Water harvesting and conservation for the production of high value fruit trees and other crops is the Project's main agricultural activity at this site. With assistance from the Project, the communities have constructed water cisterns, reservoirs, and stone dykes to retain water for their plantations of pomegranate, almond, olive, fig, date, and jojoba (Simmondisa Californica), and fodder shrubs, such as spineless cactus. Jojoba was promoted because of the high value of its oil, which is used in airplanes, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. The Project is helping with intermediate technology to extract oil and is helping the community find markets for their produce. Families have also been helped to start home vegetable gardens, and to diversify their income through honey and poultry production, and through carpet weaving. An all-weather road constructed under the 'World Food Program Project 5586' has made transporting produce to market a lot easier.

       All of the Project's development initiatives have a basis in research. We therefore move to Wadi Abu El-Goroof to learn about research into integrated watershed management. Here, after close monitoring of precipitation and water flows, the Project staff built dykes with spillways. Back slopes and slope terraces have been developed using rolled compacted concrete. The land here is similar to Wadi El-Matarieh, and less productive than in El-Sequifa. The Project's civil engineer gives technical advice to the community, while the Project provides construction material on credit. Agricultural experts advise on the choice of crops, varieties, and optimum cultivation practices.

     As we marvel at the work done by the community, our attention is diverted to a nearby hillock. A group of Bedouins is working amid the boulders, while their donkey cart stays put, about 200 m away. Curiosity takes hold and we cross the dry streambed to learn what is going on.

     We meet brothers Basher, Adel, Saber, and Atyeh, who are drawing water from a cistern constructed by the Project. The level of water has gone down, so one of the brothers is lowered by rope into the cistern. A jerry can of water is pulled up and transferred to a battery of jerry cans, which are ferried to the cart. Once the cart is loaded, the water is pulled another 200 m down to flat terraced land where the brothers have established a plantation of figs. The seedlings are small and will need irrigation for at least one more year. When they are fully established, they will survive on rainwater caught in the terraces. But for now, the plantation demands backbreaking work of the four brothers, who nonetheless remain convinced of the value of their labor. They intend to clean the cistern so it will hold more water in the coming rainy season. For the Project's Deputy Director General, Dr Sobhi El-Najjar, who accompanied us, it was a highly satisfying experience. Figs are an important income generator for the community. A good tree can in some cases produce up to 1000 kg of fruit per year.
     Integrated development of communities is at the core of the Project. No wonder, then, that great emphasis is paid to human resource development. Extension agents are given regular training and a range of instructional material is prepared. The SRSCs play an important role. We visited one in Ras El-Hekma equipped with classrooms used to teach children, youths, women, and men how to read and write. They are also the venue for workshops where women are trained in art, knitting, weaving, carpet and jewelry making, and other handicrafts that might enable them to generate additional income.

The project is a success because it facilitates the convergence of essential elements:

• A willing group of local rural communities determined to break free from poverty and malnutrition;
• A government convinced that investment in research for development will generate knowledge essential to local communities;
• A donor with foresight willing to grant a loan for the Project; and
• A highly dedicated group of research and development professionals from the national system and an international agricultural research center working in partnership with local communities to devise practical solutions to problems constraining livelihoods and sustainability of fragile resources.

     Resource Management Project was like a pilgrimage in honor of people's striving for a peaceful, socially equitable, and sustainable existence, for this generation and generations to come.