GHONUIM, S., AZZAM, A., MOBARACK, M., KABEEL, M. (2019). THE MOST IMPORTANT AGRICULTURAL PROBLEMS AND OBSTACLES LEADING TO THE WIDENING OF THE FOOD GAP OF AGRICULTURAL CROPS IN EGYPT. Egyptian Journal of Agricultural Research, 97(4), 835-856. doi: 10.21608/ejar.2019.111119
SHEHATA A.M. GHONUIM; ALI A. AZZAM; MOHAMED A. MOBARACK; MOFIDA E. KABEEL. "THE MOST IMPORTANT AGRICULTURAL PROBLEMS AND OBSTACLES LEADING TO THE WIDENING OF THE FOOD GAP OF AGRICULTURAL CROPS IN EGYPT". Egyptian Journal of Agricultural Research, 97, 4, 2019, 835-856. doi: 10.21608/ejar.2019.111119
GHONUIM, S., AZZAM, A., MOBARACK, M., KABEEL, M. (2019). 'THE MOST IMPORTANT AGRICULTURAL PROBLEMS AND OBSTACLES LEADING TO THE WIDENING OF THE FOOD GAP OF AGRICULTURAL CROPS IN EGYPT', Egyptian Journal of Agricultural Research, 97(4), pp. 835-856. doi: 10.21608/ejar.2019.111119
GHONUIM, S., AZZAM, A., MOBARACK, M., KABEEL, M. THE MOST IMPORTANT AGRICULTURAL PROBLEMS AND OBSTACLES LEADING TO THE WIDENING OF THE FOOD GAP OF AGRICULTURAL CROPS IN EGYPT. Egyptian Journal of Agricultural Research, 2019; 97(4): 835-856. doi: 10.21608/ejar.2019.111119
THE MOST IMPORTANT AGRICULTURAL PROBLEMS AND OBSTACLES LEADING TO THE WIDENING OF THE FOOD GAP OF AGRICULTURAL CROPS IN EGYPT
Agricultural Economics Research Institute-Agricultural Research Center, Giza, Egypt
Abstract
An achievement food security in Egypt is facing many problems resulting in the inability of the agricultural sector to meet the needs of population of food, clothing, and the further widening the gap between food production and national consumption of agricultural crops. The study aims at sheding light on the problems and difficulties facing the Egyptian agricultural production and a study, analysis the productive and economic efficiency of plant production. problems and obstacles of plant production and the increase in the self-sufficiency ratio of Egyptian food crops. The research used descriptive and quantitative analysis of the economic variables, in addition to on secondary data. The research tackles the problems and difficulties faced by the Egyptian agricultural sector and how to overcome them, which are:
The fragmentation of agricultural holdings, and the dominance of dwarf holdings, where about 92.1% of the total number of owners in the Republic owns an area of agricultural land about 47.2% of the total area of agricultural owned, thus leaving about 8% of the total number of owners in the Republic owns the area of the agricultural land, amounting to about 52.8% of the total agricultural land owned. Increasing the encroachment on agricultural land for urban expansion and also by excavation, especially in the period from 25/1/2011 to 18/3/2014. Neglecting the maintenance of agricultural economic resources by land clearing, poor service operations, wasteful irrigation and poor drainage. The risks of climate change on land, leading to high salinity of soil, land development, rising groundwater level, coastal erosion and displacement of the northern coastal population. Social and economic problems, namely, the complete liberalization of the agricultural sector in 1990, and the release of agricultural land rents in full in 1997, which led to the increase in the value of production inputs in addition to the increase in wages of agricultural workers and fuel prices. An abolition of subsidies on agricultural loans and hence the increase in interest rates on it agricultural loans. A decline of role cooperative marketing and cooperative societies, which led to high production costs in addition to the cancellation of the agricultural cropping system, which led to increase the size of the food gap in the main crops in the average period (2011-2015) to 45% for wheat, 50% for 94% for lentils, 88% for vegetable oils, 70% for municipal beans, 30% for sugar, 23% for dairy products and 25% for red meat. This gap is covered by imports from the dollar markets. Exchange of the dollar in Egyptian pounds. The negative role in some cases for many of the farmers and the state in the improvement and development of agricultural production in Egypt, represented by the neglect of the farms in the purification and maintenance of small agricultural banks, leading to poor drainage. The absence of a national plan for the state to exploit groundwater, especially in the area of Siwa, With the increase of the number of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, or the specific rates of crops, to an increase in the incidence of liver and kidney diseases and cancers among consumers. Low efficiency of agricultural marketing methods. The ratio of agricultural GDP to GDP declined to about 9.8% between 2000 and 2015. The ratio of agricultural investments to total national investments decreased to 56.64% between 2000 and 2015. The migration of agricultural labor in general and trained in particular from the countryside to the city or abroad to improve their standard of living. The relative importance of total agricultural employment in the country has decreased to about 9.8% between 2000 and 2015.
Also, the research indicates that the obstacles of agricultural development in Egypt during the study period (2000-2015) is the slow increase of agricultural land resources in the face of population increase. Therefore, it is necessary to increase reclaimed land within available water resources at a rate greater than population growth rate. As a political commodity of a strategic nature, which is used as a tool for the pressure of exporting countries on importing countries for food commodities.