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Al-Ahram Weekly 15 - 21 July 1999 Issue No. 438 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 15 - 21 July 1999 Issue No. 438
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Travel Living Sports Time Out Chronicles People Cartoons Letters Worm sign
By Gamal Essam El-DinUrgent measures are being taken by the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) to cushion the impact on cotton farmers of a looming disaster that will affect the productivity of the cotton crop and producers' revenues. Over the last few weeks, several thousand farmers have complained that large cotton plantations are dying due to a combination of severe infestation with cotton and boll worms and piercing insects -- which thrive in the high temperatures and humidity of July and August -- and the high cost of production inputs.
Moreover, some agricultural experts are pessimistic about the cotton yield expected this year, claiming that the ministry had given farmers weak and unproductive seeds.
Among Egypt's principal areas of cotton cultivation, Al-Sharqiya, Al-Gharbiya, Al-Menoufiya and Al-Daqahliya governorates were the most hard hit by cotton worms.
Following a visit paid last week to five cotton-growing governorates, Youssef Wali, minister of agriculture and deputy prime minister, said an integrated pest-control programme has been quickly devised by the ministry to fight the boll worms which have already hit large areas hard. "This programme completely excludes the use of chemicals and instead adopts the (natural) pest-control method, known as "phermones", to effectively kill boll worms in different governorates," Wali said.
However, the minister insisted that the infestation was weak in several areas and does not pose a big threat to the crop as a whole. The infestation was the highest in Al-Sharqiya Governorate, where the incidence was 950 boll worms per feddan, according to ministry reports. Out of 72,000 feddans cultivated with cotton in this governorate, at least two-thirds have been severely hit with worms. Mahmoud Ibrahim, general manager of MOA's Agricultural Affairs Department, said the ministry has so far managed to control the infestation in 21,000 feddans of cotton in Al-Sharqiya Governorate.
For many years, combating cotton pests has depended primarily on campaigns by students to manually fight cotton worms during summer holidays. This year's rise in cotton infestation is due to lack of coordination between the ministries of agriculture and education, according to Ibrahim. "The Ministry of Education's decision this year to prolong the period of school exams until the end of May has prevented thousands of students from participating in this work. As a result, infestation has become common in two-thirds of the total cotton area in the country -- estimated at 640,000 feddans," Ibrahim said.
An emergency room has been established to closely monitor the situation in cotton areas on a daily basis and follow up progress in pest-control work. "Two hundred sprinklers are being used to spray the infected areas with fuel oil (solar), sulphur and liquid soap to fight the boll worms and piercing insects," Ibrahim said.
For their part, farmers are complaining that the government did not live up to its promise to subsidise part of the cost of pest-control work. "The government claimed that a subsidy of LE100 will be granted for each feddan of cotton to cover part of pest-control costs, but so far this has not happened," said Ali Ahmed, a cotton grower in Al-Gharbiya governorate.
photo: Sherif Sonbol
Ahmed also complained that the cotton seeds distributed by the Agriculture Ministry have proved to be highly unproductive. "The yield per feddan of cotton declined from 10 to 15 qantars (the qantar is equivalent to 50 kilograms) a few years ago to four to five qantars at present. Another factor is that farmers have become increasingly discouraged by the expensive costs of pest-control operations and fertilisers," said Ahmed. MOA official Ibrahim agrees that the nine-month cotton cultivation period is the longest of all crops, while the returns are diminishing all the time due to unfavourable fluctuations in international prices.
"In Al-Menoufiya, which is one of the major cotton-producing provinces, the area cultivated with cotton gradually dropped over the last few years from 150,000 feddans to 72,000 feddans. Although Al-Menoufiya's Agricultural Directorate offered various facilities this season to entice farmers to grow cotton, most of them opted to grow maize because it generates higher returns and has a short cultivation period," Ibrahim said.
The drop in cotton areas also occurred in the last five years in Al-Gharbiya and Al-Qalyubiya Governorates, Ibrahim added. "In Al-Gharbiya, 45 per cent of the area cultivated with cotton -- which dropped from 150,000 feddans to 90,000 feddans -- has been hard hit by cotton and boll worms. The infestation in Al-Qalyubiya, where the cultivated cotton area dropped from 11,000 feddans to 9,000 feddans, ranged from 60 to 100 per feddan," Ibrahim said.
In Upper Egypt, the situation is relatively better. Mohamed Reda Ismail, general manager of the Agrarian Reform Authority, said farmers were careful to abide by the right time for sowing which falls in the second half of February. "This causes an increase in production through early growth and ripening, and also decreases infection by pests," said Ismail.
A report prepared by the Cooperative Society of Cotton Producers (CSCP) states that the total area cultivated with cotton in Egypt declined from 1.8 million feddans in 1982 to 920,000 feddans in 1997. In the past year, it has dropped even further, from 720,000 feddans in 1998 to the current 640,000 feddans.
For his part, Trade Minister Ahmed Guweili said that the cotton production this season will be mostly long-staple varieties. "The Agriculture Ministry, at the request of the Ministry of Trade, urged farmers to reduce the areas cultivated with extra long-staple varieties in favour of meeting the export and local spinning mills' needs for long-staple varieties," Guweili said. Overall, he expected cotton production this year to be "promising."
Guweili said, "The Agriculture Ministry has been able to bring the infections under control. Besides, we have a strategic stock of cotton estimated at 1.5 million qantars. This is a basic policy to guarantee that cotton varieties will remain competitive in international markets." He also emphasised that the government is committed to its new policy of fully liberalising the cotton trade.
"The government will by no means try to intervene in the marketing and trading of cotton. Farmers will be completely free to deliver their crop to either private traders or to the government," Guweili said. However, the internal prices of cotton deliveries will be set following careful and extensive studies, he said. This will ensure that local mills meet their cotton needs at reasonable prices and will help maintain the competitiveness of top quality Egyptian varieties in the world market.
