China’s agritech brings water to Egypt’s giant beet sugar factory in Sahara Desert

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.