Mohamed Shubek, a 47-year-old farmer living in Fayoum, nearly 100 kilometres south of Egypt’s capital, Cairo, remembers when his field was productive and his yields plentiful. But since 2017, desertification has drastically hit his farmland, rendering half his 3.5 feddans (3.6 acres) infertile. However, the North African country’s production of olives, and its agriculture sector as a whole, is being weighed down by climate variations such as desertification. Get our free Climate Unspun email Climate Unspun is a free email newsletter about COP26 and climate change. Like Shubek, al-Shimy’s own sons have also left the village in search of work elsewhere.

Source: The North Africa Journal November 09, 2021 04:48 UTC