Ploughing at Dabaa (El Alamein) for the cultivation of grain. In this area, the successful reaping of the harvest depends on spring rainfall. - - Livestock improvement and land settlement in the northwest coastal zone (WFP).: 017 (WFP).. The UN/FAO World Food Programme has been assisting the UAR Government in a project to settle the nomadic herdsmen of the north-western coastal zone of UAR from Alexandria to Libyan border, to improve their livestock and to reduce the pressure on grazing land. Bout 2,000 people are being resettled on land which is being reclaimed from the desert. Work includes afforestation, construction of permanent dwellings erection of earth dams and dykes, clearing of old Roman cisterns. WFP is providing food rations for the settlers and their families in the early phase until their newly cultivated lands can support them. Feed is also being provided for about half a million sheep during the three months summer day period each yea so that herdsmen will not have to move their flocks in search of fodder. Improved animal husbandry practices and the cultivation of fodder crops are being introduced to improve the quality and reduce the numbers of the animals. The project, which began in 1963, was extended in 1966 to run for a further five years. The total cost to WFP is over $8 million.