Prof. Dr. Abdallah Zaglol, President of the Desert research center, inaugurated, via video conference, a training course this week, it was under the title “How to improve the food situation for Egyptian families, in El- Kharga Oasis”, as a part of a series about raising awareness of local communities in El- Kharga Oasis, in the New Valley, in partnership with “FAO”. The training course aimed to spread health awareness among rural women in the oasis, and improve their food situation.
Zaghlol stated that 300 people from a three villages were trained for the project. and this comes within the framework of implementing the plan of the Ministry of Agriculture, to expand Moringa cultivativation the desert areas, due to the high nutritional value of these plant, in addition to its ability to resist stress and drought conditions in desert environment.
He stated that the Desert Research Center contributes effectively to provide all technical and scientific support for rural women, to teach them the proper diet, to maintain the health of each family member,
He also pointed out that this course effectively contributed to learn about the benefits of moringa, and high nutritional value of this miracle tree for all family.
Zaghlol said that the project, in its first phase, was able to provide 5,000 moringa seedlings to 100 rural families, in order to spread cultivating moringa trees in the oasis, and this initiative comes within the project of sustainable management of agricultural ecosystems in El-kharga Oasis, which is implemented by the Desert research center, in cooperation with, the Directorate of Agriculture in the New Valley.
Dr. Amira Shukri, assistant professor of food science and technology at the center, who is responsible for implementing the scientific forum’s activities, indicated that the expanding in cultivating moringa in the oasis can also effectively contribute in improving economic level of rural women, due to its high price, as they can dry and package moringa leaves to sell.
Dr. Emad Awad, the project’s spokesperson, added that such events and meetings enhances the role of community participation, as it involves the local agricultural community in all stages of the project’s work, that helps to advance the agricultural development in the oasis, and maximizes benefit of services provided by the project.
