Toshka & the New Valleyتوشكى والوادي الجديد

The Toshka scheme is fed by the Sheikh Zayed Canal, which carries water from Lake Nasser — the great reservoir behind the Aswan High Dam — out into the Western Desert. Giant pumping stations lift the water into canals that irrigate the new fields. The project aims to reclaim hundreds of thousands of feddans, with Toshka itself targeting over half a million feddans, creating a major new agricultural region far from the crowded Nile Valley.

First launched decades ago as a grand vision to build a "new valley" parallel to the Nile, Toshka saw slow progress for years. It has since been revived with major new investment and modern methods, and large areas are now under cultivation, growing wheat, maize, and other crops. Recent years of high Nile flows have even seen the Toshka spillway used to absorb surplus water, underscoring the link between the project and the management of Lake Nasser.

Reclaiming desert on this scale is not without challenges — including soil salinity and the careful management of scarce water — and progress is measured in steady expansion rather than overnight transformation. Yet alongside the New Delta and other schemes, Toshka and the New Valley are central to Egypt's drive to expand its farmland, ease pressure on the Nile Valley, and build long-term food security from the desert.

• What it is: a vast desert-reclamation scheme in southern Egypt.
• Arabic name: توشكى والوادي الجديد (Toshka & the New Valley).
• Water source: Lake Nasser, via the Sheikh Zayed Canal.
• Scale: hundreds of thousands of feddans; Toshka targets 500,000+.
• Crops: wheat, maize, and other staples.
• Challenges: soil salinity and water management.

Sources include recent official and industry reports on Egyptian agriculture (current as of 2026). Figures are approximate and several projects are still expanding.