Vol-2, Issue-6 PP. 975-988 ISSN: 2394-5788 975 | Page 30 June 2015 www.gjar.org IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON IRRIGATION WATER DEMAND FOR RICE CROP IN KAFR EL-SHEIKH GOVERNORATE, EGYPT. Farag A.A and M. A. A. Abdrabbo Central Laboratory for Agriculture Climate (CLAC), Giza, Egypt M. S. Kadah and A. F. Abou Hadid Climate Change Information Center and Renewable Energy (CCICRE), Giza, Egypt Abstract This study investigates the projected changes in evapotranspiration and irrigation water demand for rice crop in Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate, Egypy. The mean air temperature were statistically downscaled and compared with the current climate, defined as the period 1971–2000. FAO-56 Penman-Monteith equation was implemented to estimate ETo by using current climatic data. Evapotranspiration is estimated based on the predicted maximum and minimum air temperature using the RCPs scenarios (RCP2.6 – RCP4.5 – RCP6.0 and RCP8.5) during three time series (2011-2040, 2041-2070 and 2071-2100). The obtained results revealed that the mean air temperatures were increased under all RCPs scenarios compared to current data. Moreover, the RCP8.5 had the highest mean air temperature compared to the other RCPs scenarios. ETo significant increased in different tested time series compared to the current ETo values. The values of irrigation water demands in long term time series (2071-2100) were higher than short term (2011-2040) or mid-term (2041-2070) with respect to the current situation. Total water budget in Kafr El-Sheikh for rice crop will increase under all scenarios compared with the current conditions and ranged from 92 to 345 Million cubic meters. This paper suggested a package of different adaptation options for better water management for rice crop in Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate. Keywords: RCP scenarios –water budget –rice crop – adaptation options-Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate. 1. INTRODUCTION Rice is the second priority cereal crop after wheat in Egypt. It occupies about 22% of the cultivated area during the summer season. Approximately 95% of all rice is grown in the six governorates that constitute the northern part of the Nile delta. The cultivated area of rice is about 1.409 million feddans in year 2011 that produced about 5.67 million ton paddy rice with a production per feddan of about 4.02 tons ( Economic Affairs Sector, EAS 2011). Climate change is likely to have an impact on water use and water use efficiency in rice. Temperature increases due to global warming are likely to cause an increase in evapotranspiration losses. However, there is new evidence that