Correction: Egypt-Nile story

CAIRO – In a story April 23 about Egypt’s water conservation efforts in response to an Ethiopian dam, The Associated Press reported erroneously that parliament voted to ban water-intensive crops like rice and bananas. The new law would allow the government to ban such crops in some areas, but not in the whole country.

A corrected version of the story is below:

Fearing Ethiopian dam, Egypt restricts water-intensive crops

Egypt’s parliament has passed a law allowing the government to restrict the cultivation of crops that require a large amount of water, amid fears that a massive Ethiopian dam being built upstream could cut into the country’s share of the Nile

Egypt’s parliament has passed a law allowing the government to restrict the cultivation of crops that require a large amount of water, amid fears that a massive Ethiopian dam being built upstream could cut into the country’s share of the Nile.

The law passed late Sunday would allow the government to ban the cultivation of rice, bananas and other crops in some areas, with violators facing prison time and a fine of up to $3,000. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi would need to approve the law.

The Nile provides virtually all the freshwater for Egypt’s 100 million people.

El-Sissi says the country is building desalinization plants on the Red Sea to reduce its dependence on the river as Ethiopia nears completion of the dam.