Electronics Research: The political leadership in Egypt attaches great importance to the agricultural sector
The Electronics Research Institute participated in the Second African Conference on Precision Agriculture, which is organized by 11 African countries, including the Arab Republic of Egypt, represented by the National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences.Dr. Sherine Abdel Qader Muharram, Head of the Electronics Research Institute, stated that the conference represents an important event at the present time, as the political leadership in Egypt attaches great importance to the agricultural sector, and this is evident in many major agricultural projects in the fields of land reclamation and cultivation, including, for example, the one and a half million project. Feddan, the New Delta Project, the Toshka Al-Khair Project, Central and North Sinai Development, the New Valley Development and many others. Based on this and the belief of the Electronics Research Institute in the importance of scientific research and its pioneering role in solving societal problems, the Institute is always keen to participate in scientific events that deal with these areas, especially problems related to the agricultural sector. It is worth noting that the Institute has been interested for years in the applications of smart agriculture from the research and applied sides. A research paper was published in 2013 in a periodical that follows the global scientific database Scopus, which received a large number of citations. It was among the most cited research papers in the journal in which it was published.This research exploited the concept of precision farming to present a solution using wireless sensor network technology to predict early conditions that warn of the possibility of brown rot in the potato crop to avoid its occurrence and thus avoid the reasons that hindered its export.In 2015, a project entitled "Building a Mini Model of a Wireless Sensor Network for Better Agriculture" was started. The institute submitted a patent application related to it in October 2018, and the patent was granted in June 2022. The application related to this model is also protected by copyright. Subsequently, the institute published a number of research papers related to the field of smart agriculture. In 2019, the institute also signed a cooperation protocol with the National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences, and as a result of this protocol, a contract was signed for a joint project between the two sides entitled "Development of an automated system to support decision-making for precision agriculture applications."
This project resulted in an integrated software system (EGYPADS) supported by Internet of Things technology. This system is based on automating the planning of agricultural management areas, producing their maps, and supporting agricultural decision-making. This system has also been protected by copyright, as it was published in 2022. In one of the scientific journals that follow Nature Portfolio.
Two contracts were also signed for two projects with the National Authority for Remote Sensing, emanating from the cooperation protocol under the name “Smart Agriculture Systems in Small Farms based on the Internet of Things (IOT) and Information and Communication Technology ICT” and the smart digital system for remote monitoring and control of water flow from wells or in networks and linking them to an active spatial database" for the years 2019 and 2022, respectively.
This cooperation resulted in a system for monitoring the withdrawal of water from the wells, with an end to the safe withdrawal in a way that does not affect the sustainability of the aquifer. Through the system, it is also possible to count the wealth of groundwater from wells scattered throughout Egypt, determine the annual withdrawal amounts from it, document this within a digital monitoring and control system, and predict the quantities of stored water; As well as linking the quantities of extracted water to the cultivated land areas and the quality of crops, which helps decision-makers to optimally plan the cultivated areas, the quality of the crops, and the optimal irrigation method in order to maximize the use of the agricultural unit, whether it is fertile land or an arable water resource. The system was tested in several locations in cooperation with several agencies, including the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, the Water Department of the Ministry of Defense, and the Al-Shorouk City water network.
