Near the edge of the Sahara Desert, in Egypt’s West Minya, Chinese drillers bore deep into the earth, tapping groundwater to irrigate a once 500-hectare stretch of desert – now home to the world’s largest beet sugar factory.
China’s Zhongman Petroleum has drilled 193 wells over the past three years to irrigate the farm, which supplies Canal Sugar – a joint venture backed by investors from the United Arab Emirates and Egypt – with an annual capacity of 900,000 tonnes, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency.
To tackle unstable aquifers and prevent the collapse of wells, Zhongman used air-foam drilling – a method that replaces traditional mud with a mix of air and foaming agents – to reduce leakage and improve efficiency. Many Egyptian drilling companies have since adopted the technique.
In mid-May, when US President Donald Trump kicked off his investment-focused visit to the Middle East in Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom’s agricultural officials were signing deals with Chinese companies in Beijing – ultimately securing 57 agreements worth 26.9 billion yuan (US$ 3.7 billion).
The deals spanned a range of projects in the environmental, water, agricultural, fisheries and livestock sectors. Key initiatives include knowledge exchanges on water recycling, the development of human capacity-building programmes, the establishment of seaweed cultivation stations and the production of biofuels and biofertilisers, according to the state-run Saudi Press Agency.
