TOPIC 1: Combat agriculture land degradation in salt ... - ICARDA

Management of water and salinity in the Nile Delta: A cross-scale integrated analysis of
efficiency and equity issues
TOPIC 1:
Combat agriculture land degradation in salt affected soils of the north Nile Delta
ICARDA offers a highly competitive studentship on soil salinity management under
activities of the Water & Salinity Management in Nile Delta Project funded by
Australian Center for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR). Only Egyptian
nationality students are eligible for this scholarship. The selected student will receive
funding that provides tuition and a stipend to support a student’s educational and
research expenses.
Background:
About one third of Egypt’s irrigated lands are salt-affected. Soil salinization keeps
increasing over time for several reasons, such as poor irrigation practices,
deterioration of water quality, and sea water intrusion. Several treatments and plotlevel
interventions must be developed and tested to offer farmers a range of possible
mitigation techniques. In addition, participatory approaches in developing small-scale
farmers’ skills and understanding of developed technologies adoption are considered
to be one of the most efficient means to disseminate research findings.
Since salinity management is contingent on infiltrating an amount of water in excess
of the soil moisture depletion to leach or transport salts below the root zone, leaching
fraction studies will be undertaken. Knowledge of the required leaching fractions is
important to salt management (and that is mistakenly considered as a loss). It is
apparent, in particular, that rice cultivation is necessary (at least every second year in
upper-Meet Yazid area) to mitigate the capillary salt build-up that occurs with
summer crops rotation.
Objectives: The main objective is to develop and assess on-farm interventions that
improve the crop production of diverse farming systems, and that contribute to
increased water productivity under salt-affected soils to address soil degradation in
the northern delta.
Benefits: The Master degree scholarship is involving research work and thesis. Master
students will work closely with an academic supervisor from university, research
supervisor from national research system (ARC) and international research
organization (ICARDA). Assessment of the thesis will be conducted by both an internal
and external examiners. If need be, ICARDA will offer students on-job training
opportunities associated with their research topics to improve skills and an
understanding of research approaches.
Requirements: Egyptian students registered for master who 1) can still select the
topic of their thesis; 2) can change the topic they have already identified; 3) have
adequate background (and a related topic) and welling to dedicate three months

(including two of summer break) to conduct field work and build their capacity and
experience. Good command of English is mandatory.
How to apply: Send your C.V. along with supporting documents to include two
recommendation letters from your university to: Atef Swelam: a.swelam@cgiar.org
Deadline : 28 February, 2013