资料题：The increase in agricultural production was expected to（　）。

The Aswan high dam project, located on the Nile River in upper Egypt, came into being as a result of Egypt's need to increase the land under cultivation.This need was a direct result of population growth.The dam was engineered to increase the arable lands by some two million acres, and it was expected that the increase in agricultural production would feed more than fivemillion persons.The dam would thus alleviate the problem of population growth and better the lot of the people in general.One unfortunate result of the project, however, was that it threatened to precipitate (使提前发生) a ''cultural catastrophe.”Within a period of five years, the rising waters were to form a lake two hundred feet deep, inundating some three hundred miles of the fabled Nubian Valley and obliterating some of man's most spectacular monuments.More than two dozen important sites in the valley reflect one of man's oldest civilizations.There are beautiful temples and treasures of extreme antiquity in the area.An international appeal was made to raise the funds needed to save these monuments, including the great temple of Abu Simbel and the fabulous island of Philae.In addition to contributing ten million dollars, the United Arab Republic agreed to allow archaeologists(考古学家)making immediate explorations to keep half of the works excavated(挖掘).