Egyptian farmers work in the field after attending the agricultural classes at a youth farmer field school in Beni Sweif Governorate, Egypt, Oct. 19, 2016. (Xinhua/Meng Tao)

by Mahmoud Fouly, Wang Xue

BENI SWEIF, Egypt, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- At a large hut near a canal bank at a field in Upper Egypt's Beni Sweif province, some 25 youth farmers gathered to learn about newer, healthier and more productive agricultural ways from their trainers provided by the Egyptian government and the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as part of a joint project for rural development.

Initiated over a year ago and implemented in impoverished rural areas, the project of "Improving Household Food and Nutrition Security in Egypt by Targeting Women and Youth" includes three main programs: A youth farmer field school, a women's nutrition kitchen school and a roof-plantation training course.

The FAO project is implemented in the provinces of Beni Sweif, Fayoum, Sohag, Assiut and Aswan, funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation and carried out in cooperation with Egypt's Agriculture Ministry, with the purpose of helping Egyptian youth and women in rural areas double agricultural crops, learn about healthier, simpler and cheaper nutrition and use neglected roofs for fruit and vegetable plantation.

"The Junior Farmer Field School does not only teach a new agricultural method but a new lifestyle. It's a successful experience that led to about 50 percent extra production with better quality," Beni Sweif Governor Sherif Habib told Xinhua at the feddan of land in Western Quftan village grown by the youth farmers under supervision of the FAO and the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture.

During his field visit to the village accompanied by FAO representatives, agriculture ministry officials and project managers, the governor said he discussed with the FAO representative in Egypt how to expand the experience as the young farmers aspire to gradually enlarge the project to reach 300 feddans of lands.

"This will provide a lot of job opportunities and bring more production and life development for all people involved," Habib said, hailing the project as "a realistic experience on the ground carried out by the youth of the village themselves."

In the midst of a field, Mohamed Ragab, a 28-year-old field school trainee, hailed the new agricultural methods introduced by his trainers that doubled the production of pepper plant during the project.

"They also taught us many things about agriculture, like how to make use of the wastes, how to maintain safety during plantation, how to protect the environment, how to avoid burning wastes and straws or throwing them in the canal and rather use them for making organic fertilizers, etc," the young farmer told Xinhua, urging the ministry to provide them with a sufficient share of organic fertilizers due to their shortage.

The field visit is part of the FAO celebration of the 2016 World Food Day (WFD) which is held this year under the theme "Climate is Changing, Food and Agriculture Must Too," focusing on the critical relation between climate change and food security and future sustainable development.

"The youth is the pillar of society and women play a great role in nutrition. So, the FAO focused on helping junior farmers and raising women's awareness of healthy nutrition at home. The project attempts to help the youth find job opportunities and junior farmers will soon get small loans to grow healthy crops," FAO Representative in Egypt Hussein Gadain told Xinhua at the field school in the village.

The FAO official continued that the project supports about 150 village families who will soon be provided by loans from 3,000 to 10,000 Egyptian pounds (1 U.S. dollar equals 8.88 pounds) to buy the necessary tools for small enterprises, praising the role of the Italian agency in the rural development initiative.

Leaving the Western Quftan village to Beni Sweif agriculture department, the second floor of one of its buildings hosts the women's Community Nutrition Kitchen where they learn to cook simple, healthy meals while its roof is used for drying vegetables such as tomatoes to be used for cooking off season.

The female trainees prepared a variety of dishes on a large table including loaves of bread, green soup "molokhia" with beans, cooked egg with smashed wheat, green salad containing onions, arugulas, lemons, peppers and other ingredients as well as sweet jammed potatoes as dessert.

"We learned here how to cook simpler and healthier food containing all necessary elements such as proteins, carbohydrates and fats. We hope to convey the ideals we learned here back to our villages," said Huwaida Rooby, a trainee at the kitchen school.

The young woman hopes that the government can open a small enterprise for them in her village to benefit and educate the people there what they have learned at the kitchen class, "especially that rural women are unaware of these valuable nutrition ways."

On the roof of the opposite building inside the agriculture department, a variety of vegetables and fruits, including peppers, eggplants, lettuces, pomegranates and others, have been newly planted by means of simple and new methods introduced by both the FAO and the ministry as part of their joint development project.

"It is useful cooperation and we hope for its future expansion of this project. The trainees at the farmer field school and the nutrition kitchen will become future trainers for other villages, and the development goes on," Abdel-Azim Abdel-Hamid, Agriculture Ministry's Undersecretary in Beni Sweif, told Xinhua.