*3.1. Sharkia*

Table 2 depicts the water profitability analysis conducted for Sharkia from the collected forms in the governorate. The analysis was conducted for five main crops: wheat, sugar beet, clover, rice, and maize. Regarding total costs per feddan, sugar beet was the highest followed by rice, and the lowest was clover. Total revenue was highest for sugar beet and clover and lowest for maize. For the net return per feddan, clover was the highest 17,480 EGP/feddan, and the lowest value was found for maize at 723 L.E/feddan. Furthermore, rice is considered to be the most water-intensive crop, requiring about 6480 m3/feddan, which is nearly double the amount required for the other crops, and the least water-intensive is wheat, using 2160 m3/feddan. Finally, regarding water profitability, clover was the most profitable at 5.2 EGP/m<sup>3</sup> followed by sugar beet and wheat, while maize was the least water-profitable crop at 0.22 EGP/m3.

**Table 2.** Water profitability analysis for Sharkia governorate in 2020, source: field data collected from farmers and verified by workshops.


Figure 2 shows the water profitability for the selected crops in Sharkia Governorate calculated using the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation–Economic Affairs Sector's Agricultural Statistics Bulletin for 2019 and data from the Land and Water Research Institute of the Water Standards Department. The figure also shows that clover is the most water-profitable crop, followed by sugar beet and wheat. The least water-profitable crops are rice and maize, which aligns with the data collected from the surveys and workshops. However, the collected data reflect the real value on the ground that show the sugar beet and wheat values were almost double the published value. These on-ground data need to be reflected in the policy planning and recommendations.

**Figure 2.** Water profitability of Sharkia governorate from Bulletin data compared to collected forms. Source: In blue, Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation–Economic Affairs Sector's Agricultural Statistics Bulletin for 2019 and Land and Water Research Institute's Water Standards Department's unpublished data. In gray are the in-person forms collected in 2020.
