New technology helps Egypt grow sugar beets in the desert

Egypt is able to grow tens of thousands of hectares of sugar beets in the arid desert soil of the southern part of the country thanks to underground water drilling technology.

Machines harvest sugar beets in the Egyptian desert on July 11.

Machines harvest sugar beets in a huge field in western Minya province, then transport them to a processing plant 40km away. This is part of the $1 billion Canal Sugar project between Egypt and the UAE, which aims to turn 50,000 hectares of desert into farmland. To do this, finding enough water for irrigation is very important.

"We arrived in the middle of the desert and with the help of China's Zhongman Petroleum and Natural Gas Corporation (ZPEC), we started drilling exploratory wells and then developed an irrigation network." Project head Aaron Baldwin told Xinhua. "About 300 to 350 wells will be needed when the project is complete."

With more than 150 wells drilled, the vast sugar beet fields are gradually greening the desert, forming a giant farm to provide raw materials for the sugar beet processing factory.

Sugar beet field in the desert in western Minya province, Egypt.

"We are quite satisfied with the sugar yield from the sugar beet field. This is the second year of production and the production is up about 50% from last year, so we feel there is a very good pattern in place," he said. good," Baldwin added.

Zhou Guiqiang, the equipment manufacturer of the ZPEC branch in Egypt, said that they faced many challenges related to the geological conditions of the area at the beginning of the project, but through the process of research and development. non-stop exploration, everything becomes more and more smooth.

A working well in a sugar beet field.

"Initially, we drilled a well that took about a month, while now it can be completed in 14 days. We have now drilled more than 150 high-quality wells, more than 50 of which are active." , Guiqiang said.

Baldwin expects the farm to produce about 2 million tons of sugar beets a year over the next three years. It is expected that when it reaches full capacity, the factory can produce 900,000 tons of white sugar per year. This will be a significant driver for Egypt's sugar production, which currently stands at around 2.8 million tonnes per year.