Ibrahim Soliman

Diagnosis and Challenges of Sustainable Agricultural Development in Egypt

This chapter diagnoses the challenges of the sustainable agricultural development in Egypt via the trend of the agricultural trade inflow, rural poverty indicators and causes; agricultural resources use; migration and agricultural labor employment; public health and education Indicators. The analysis recommended a rural development program as an approach to sustainable agricultural. The degradation in Egyptian exports to the World was mainly due to the Impacts of Non-Tariff Barriers. The rural poverty is deeper than Urban and concentrates in Rural Upper Egypt. 92 % of farms are less than 2 ha generated average farm income in 2010 less than

From Value Chain Analysis to Global Value Chain Analysis: Fresh Orange Export Sector in Mediterranean Partner Countries

2 per capita/day. They relied upon off-farm income to pass the poverty line. There is speed shrinkage in the agricultural acreage, deterioration in soil Fertility, and numerous types of waste in the available quota of the irrigation water and its quality. There is significant migration rate and agricultural unemployment and imbalance between the expanded access to piped water and the lack of sanitation network in rural. While 30 beds and 13 doctors serving 10,000 citizens in big cities only less than 20 beds and 2 doctors serve 10,000 citizens in rural towns. Although; the literacy Rural/Urban gap was decreased from 45 % in 1995 to less than 21 % in 2010, the literacy rate in upper rural Egypt is the least. The recommended rural development program towards agricultural sustainability requires: Identification of the targeting poorest villages and their needs eligible for livelihood; the appropriateness of the governmental services to meet the actual needs in rural; and the social welfare policies that alleviate poverty by removing poor infrastructure conditions.

Role of Buffalo Production in Sustainable Development of Rural Regions

Preceding chapters outlined some of the challenges facing Mediterranean Partner Countries (MPCs), from stubborn rural poverty to a crisis in its rapidly changing demographics. The region is facing a predicament over agricultural policy and competitiveness in its agri-food sector. MPCs and the wider region of the Middle East and North African (MENA) are failing to meet the challenge of averting heavy rural-urban migration and the current policy strategy has not brought the economic growth to the region that it desperately needs (Baldacci et al. in World Dev 36:1317–1341, 2008).

Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry in the Mediterranean Partner Countries and Turkey: Factors, Indicators and Challenges

Rice is the main summer crop in Egypt. It is a cash exportable crop that provides a main source of income to the Egyptian farmers and the national economy. However, the farmers used to burn the rice straw at the farm borders and violate the law that forbids such action, which causes socio-economic negative externalities due to the generated smoke from burning. The smoke generated from burning is straw produced as byproduct of cultivated around 0.75 million ha of rice crop in Egypt, causes social costs due to the probability of premature-mortality and morbidity of rural and urban individuals and livestock. To conduct an economic assessment of such negative externalities a field research was conducted. A targeted ration of chopped rice-straw mixed with dissolved urea and molasses at 2% and 3% of weight, respectively, was fed to buffalo-feeder calves for meat production at 40% of the S.E. of the daily ration with a concentrate feed mix of 60% S.E. Such ration was compared with a control ration of dray chopped rice straw with the same proportion of concentrate feed mix. Two feed-response models were estimated for comparison of the two rations on the growth of the buffalo feeder calves for meat production. The Cobb-Douglas response function was the best fitted form according to the economic logic, significance of estimated parameters and the magnitude of R-2. The study derived the production elasticity, marginal daily gain, the value of marginal product from both estimated feed response functions. The economic marketing weight that maximizes the gross margin above the feed costs was estimated under the response model of treat rice straw feeding plan (targeted ration). It reached around 518 Kg live weight, while under the control ration it was only around 384 Kg. The larger market weight of treated rice straw ration was due to higher production elasticity, faster marginal daily gain, better marginal feed conversion and higher palatability of the ration than the control one. Egypt imports of red meat reached about 600 million dollars, due to lack of sufficient feed supply that constrained expansion in red meat production. Therefore, providing treated rice straw feed would provide additional source of livestock feeds which would provide additional 80,000 tons’ carcass weight from fed buffalo calves, which currently are slaughtered as rearing veal calves (60-80 days old). The estimated income generated from one buffalo fed calves reached 50% of the average annual per capita income in Egypt. Such program would also stop the social costs stems from probable premature death and/or morbidity of human and livestock when burning rice straw. The study presented a proposed institutional program to introduce such technology into Egyptian agricultural sector.