Over the past 13 years, the Desert Development Center (DDC) has prepared nearly 7,000 graduates of Egyptian universities for work in desert cultivation in affiliation with the Mubarak National Project, a government initiative designed to address the unemployment problem among young college graduates in Egypt.

Under this program, the Training for University Graduates in Desert Development (TUGDD), graduates are given five acres of land in the desert, a modest house and the training necessary for successful desert cultivation.

“This is very exciting to be involved with,” said Rick Tutwiler, DDC director. “Desert development has been on the government’s agenda since the 1930s. Egypt’s future depends on sustainable use of water resources, and desert development is in the same vein of maximizing natural resources.”

TUGDD is a crucial component of the project given that many of the young graduates have no experience in desert development, and often have little agricultural knowledge. The DDC, in conjunction with various other organizations such as the United Nations Development Program and the European Union, provides courses in desert development to graduates before they take possession of the farms.