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Al-Ahram Weekly 16 - 22 March 2000 Issue No. 473 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 16 - 22 March 2000 Issue No. 473
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Special Focus Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles A yawning gap
By Gamal Essam El-Din
The Shura Council has sounded the alarm over what it has termed the country's "exorbitant bill for imports."
A 200-page report prepared by the Council's Agricultural Committee says that food imports have doubled in nine years, rising from LE70 billion in 1990 to approximately LE135 billion in 1999. Imports rose by LE51 billion in the four years from 1994 to 1998.
"The nation spends LE5 million a day on food imports," said the report, "Food Security in Egypt," which was issued in February.
Most of the Council's 246 members belong to the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) of which Youssef Wali, the longest ever serving minister of agriculture, is secretary-general as well.
The report heavily criticises the "poor performance of the state's agricultural sector" which it blames for heavily compromising the country's food self-sufficiency.
Egypt lacks a "long-term agricultural strategy capable of meeting the increasing demand for food" said the report. "Agricultural production currently covers only 60 per cent of demand, which bodes ill for the future. Population is growing at a time when the Word Trade Organisation's (WTO) plans for phasing out agricultural subsidies are bound to increase international food commodity prices," said the report.
The Ministry of Agriculture is also blamed for failing to achieve a number of objectives "vital" to the economy's well-being -- foremost among them being an increase in the area of cultivable land.
"Population has almost doubled in 30 years, yet cultivated land has increased by only 25 per cent. This has greatly affected the production of vital crops. The production of wheat, for example, meets only 55 per cent of the population's needs."
Egypt's wheat imports rose from LE11 billion in 1990 to LE27 billion in 1998. The report warned against the danger of Egypt "falling prey to a cartel of international wheat producers."
Keen to stress the importance of human resource development, Mrs Mubarak insisted that the flow of capital into developing countries must be translated, not only into productive investment, but as well "help in the protection and development of its human resources".
A lack of the necessary agricultural techniques needed to improve productivity and inefficient administering of water resources "has resulted in a deterioration in land fertility rates, increasing desertification while topsoil is wasted due to illegal digging. The Agriculture Ministry has also failed to exercise control on the quality of agricultural inputs and has not acted to solve farmers' marketing problems."
The report attributed poor agricultural performance to the government's speedy introduction of liberalisation while failing to address standing problems.
While imports have surged, Egypt's agricultural exports have remained static, according to chairman of the Shura Council's Agricultural Committee Saad Hagras. "Exports registered only a moderate increase, from LE1.1 billion in 1993 to LE1.2 billion in 1998," said Hagras.
Agriculture Minister Youssef Wali, shrugging off the accusations, points out that international funding institutions such as the World Bank have described his ministry's policies as "exemplary" in demonstrating how developing countries can narrow their food gap.
"The policies of the agricultural sector are based on a clear-cut strategy," said Wali. "In the eighties, the strategy was to liberalise agricultural production. Farmers were relieved of the obligatory delivery of eleven agricultural crops to the government, which increased productivity. Farmers, now encouraged by higher returns on their crop sales, are keen to improve production. In wheat, for example, the productivity per feddan increased from five ardebs in 1990 to 18 ardebs at present. In the pre-liberalisation period, we had one million feddans of wheat, which has almost doubled since liberalisation. The productivity per feddan of rice has also risen from 1.4 tons in 1990 to 3.8 tons at present. Egypt is also now the world's top sugar cane producer."
He dismissed the report's claim that Egypt's self-sufficiency in wheat stands at a mere 55 per cent. "It stands at 75 per cent, because bread in Egypt is made up of wheat and maize. So, the nation's bread needs are covered by 55 per cent of wheat, and 20 per cent of maize."
The agricultural sector's strategy in the nineties was to modernise agricultural services, said Wali. "In this area, we established the Institute of Genetic Engineering which is encouraging bio-technology agriculture in Egypt. This institute has also raised wheat productivity. We have also adopted environment-friendly policies," said Wali. "For example, we reduced the use of agricultural pesticides from 34,000 tons in the eighties, to 4,000 tons at present,"
Wali claimed that strategy in the '90s also focused on launching agricultural mega-projects in Sinai and the South Valley, the results of which will only be felt in the next few years. "The Toshka project alone will result in an additional 450,000 feddans being brought under cultivation which will help in covering Egypt's food gap in the coming years," said Wali.
