the Nile water discharged from the storage lake is extremely poor
in silt became the subject of controversial discussions among experts as to
what this meant. Wolff (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau 1986: 91) holds that
the Nile silt is of no practical relevance for the amelioration of soils and that
also formerly there had been little sedimentation on the fields of the fella-
heen. The other fact he stresses, that the nutrients contained in the deposits
do not fulfil the requirements of the crops grown today, is of course true,
especially since the Green Revolution has also had its effects in Egypt. The
Egyptian soil scientist Kishk (1985; 1986; 1993), who studied the situation
over many years, gives a more detailed picture and states that it is not its
nitrogen content which makes the Nile silt so fertile, as some would have it,
but the great variety and combination of particular trace elements it contains,
such as iron, manganese, zinc and others. In 1974, only a few years after the
High Dam had started functioning properly, the deficits of important micro-
nutrients in Egyptian soils were first mentioned by the experts. To make up
for them about 120 types of fertilizers of different compositions were put on
the Egyptian market. This, however, was no solution to the problems arising
from the low natural nutrient content of Egyptian soils today, for about 60
per cent of the landowners are peasants who cultivate 1 acre on average per
household (CAPMAS 2002: 70) and have neither the financial resources nor
the know-how to select from the many types of fertilizers available those that
are suitable for their fields as well as for the crops they cultivate.