Climate-Resilient Wheat Improvement in Arid and Semi-Arid Regions: Comparative Perspectives from Ningxia (China) and Egypt

Wheat production in arid and semi-arid regions faces increasing pressure from water scarcity, climate change, and abiotic stresses. This review compares wheat production systems in Egypt and the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of northwestern China to examine how differences in agroecological conditions, irrigation systems, breeding priorities, and agricultural modernization influence wheat production and climate resilience. Although both regions rely heavily on irrigation, their production challenges differ: Egypt faces extremely limited rainfall, strong dependence on Nile water, and increasing pressure to improve domestic wheat production, whereas Ningxia combines low and seasonally uneven precipitation with dependence on Yellow River irrigation and challenges related to drought, salinity, and soil alkalinity. The comparison also reveals distinct but potentially complementary approaches to wheat improvement. Ningxia’s experience with long-term germplasm evaluation, genetic characterization, and the development of cultivars adapted to local production conditions offers opportunities to strengthen wheat improvement in Egypt. Conversely, Egyptian research on heat adaptation, early-maturing cultivars, and water-saving agronomic practices, including raised-bed planting, offers potentially useful approaches for Ningxia, subject to local validation. The principal contribution of this review is to integrate these contrasting regional experiences to identify reciprocal, context-dependent adaptation strategies rather than assuming that technologies can be transferred directly between regions. The review highlights the need for collaborative breeding, comparable multi-location field trials, improved irrigation management, and integrated assessment of yield, water productivity, grain quality, and environmental sustainability. These insights provide a basis for developing locally adapted strategies for more resilient wheat production in water-limited environments.