SOME ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF WHEAT IN EGYPT AND IMPACT OF ITS USE IN BIOFEUL PRODUCTION AND EGYPTIAN FOOD SECURITY | ||
| Fayoum Journal of Agricultural Research and Development | ||
| Article 33, Volume 23, Issue 1, January 2009, Pages 30-44 PDF (472.4 K) | ||
| Document Type: Research articles. | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/fjard.2009.197045 | ||
| Authors | ||
| Ahmed Esmail M. Ghazala1; Iman E. M. Abd Elftah2 | ||
| 1Arid lands cultivation and Development Research Institute, Mubarak Res., Teehnology Applicutions. | ||
| 2Institute of Agric. Eco. Research – Cairo | ||
| Abstract | ||
| Wheat is considered to be, by far, the weightiest crop in Egypt. However, Egypt suffers from a wheat gap that is estimated at 5.4 million tons in the year 2006. The study period was (1998-2006). Descriptive and quantitative analysis were used. The study depends on the secondary data, which collected from local and foreign sources during the period (1980 – 2006). The study period are mainly divided into periods as follow: (1)For studying the impact of economic liberalization policy, the study period are divided into two periods: (1980-1986) and (2000-2006). (2)For studying the impact of WTO terms, the study period are devided into two periods: (1990-1994) and (2002-2006). Main study results are that: (1) The annual average in the wheat gap is estimated at 10495.41 thousand ton. (2) About 96 % of the changes in the value of wheat-product per feddan are due to changes in the value of some commercial inputs such as fertilizers, seeds, and pesticides; in addition to labor wages. Total elasticity figures of 1.1 indicates the existence of increasing returns to scale which means that there is a potentiality for increasing crop < br />productivity. (3) The positive impacts of economic liberalization policies existed in increasing the production capacities, whereas the negative ones took the form of more consumption and, consequently, more wheat imports. (4) It is anticipated that the wheat gap will be extended to reach the 5.04 million ton mark. Its corresponding value is in the neighborhood of 5.56 billion pounds. This leads to the importance of varying the sources of wheat imports to overcome the anticipated political pressures, in addition to expanding wheat cultivation in the new lands by 2 million feddans (production capacity of 5.4 million ton) which is the size of the gap in the year 2006. (5) The study showed that the world production of wheat produced biofuel growth at exponential on incremental increases surpass the growth rate of world production of wheat. However, this could affect adversely on the remaining portion used for human food and other industries. Subsequently, could lead to raising the world prices of wheat; hence affect the agricultural trade balance for wheat imported countries such as Egypt. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| Wheat gap; WTO; Egypt; Biofuels | ||
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