Editing Economy of Egypt (section)

=== Agricultural sector ===
{{About|agriculture in modern Egypt|agriculture in ancient Egypt|Ancient Egyptian agriculture}}

==== Irrigation ====
[[File:Agricultural_output_Egypt.svg|thumb|Development of agricultural output of Egypt in 2015 US$ since 1961]]
Irrigation plays a major role in a country the very livelihood of which depends upon a single river, the Nile.  The most ambitious of all irrigation projects was the Aswan High Dam, completed in 1971. A report from the National Council for Production and Economic Affairs in March 1975 reflected the dam's success in regulating floodwaters and providing a reliable water supply. However, it was noted that water consumption had exceeded expectations, and measures to control this were being considered. Some fertile land was lost due to the cessation of the flow of Nile silt, and increasing salinity presented challenges. Additionally, a period of drought in the [[Ethiopian Highlands|Ethiopia highlands]], the source of the Nile's waters, caused the level of Lake Nasser, the dam's reservoir, to reach its lowest point in 1987.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ross |first=Michael |date=1987-12-26 |title=Parched Egypt Watches Anxiously as Waters Behind Aswan Dam Recede |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-12-26-mn-7439-story.html |access-date=2025-02-08 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Mesfin |first=Meja |date=January 2020 |title=Assessing the Challenges of Irrigation Development in Ethiopia: A Review |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341870910 |website=Research Gate}}</ref>

In the 1970s, despite considerable investments in land reclamation, agriculture gradually lost its place as the primary sector of the economy. Agricultural exports, which accounted for 87% of Egypt’s merchandise export value in 1960, had declined to 35% by 1974 and 11% by 2001.<ref>Tellioglu, Isin, and Panos Konandreas. 2017. Agricultural Policies, Trade and Sustainable Development in Egypt. Geneva: International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) and Rome: United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).</ref> As of the 2020s, agriculture accounts for approximately 10% of Egypt’s GDP and provides employment for 18% of the labor force.<ref name=participation/><ref name="CIAWFEG"/>

In 2010 Egypt's fertile area totaled about {{convert|3.6|e6ha|e6acre|abbr=off}}, about one-quarter of which has been reclaimed from the desert after the construction of the Aswan High Dam.<ref name=faoun>{{cite web |title=Country profile – Egypt (Version 2016) |url=http://www.fao.org/3/i9729en/I9729EN.pdf |publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations |access-date=6 June 2018}}</ref> The government aims to increase this number to 4.8&nbsp;million hectares by 2030 through additional land reclamation.<ref name=faoun/> Even though only 3 percent of the land is arable, it is extremely productive and can be cropped two or even three times annually. However, the reclaimed lands only add 7 percent to the total value of agricultural production.{{citation needed|date=June 2018}} [[Surface irrigation]] is forbidden by law in reclaimed lands and is only used in the Nile Valley and the Delta, the use of [[irrigation sprinkler|pressurized irrigation]] and [[drip irrigation|localized irrigation]] is compulsory in other parts of the country.<ref name=faoun/> Most land is cropped at least twice a year, but agricultural productivity is limited by salinity which in 2011 affected 25% of irrigated agriculture to varying degrees.<ref name=faoun/> This is mainly caused by insufficient drainage as well as seawater intrusion in [[aquifer]]s as a result of over-extraction of [[groundwater]], the latter primarily affects the [[Nile Delta]].<ref name=faoun/> Thanks to the installation of drainage systems a reduction in salinized areas from about 1.2&nbsp;million hectares in 1972 to 900 000 hectares in 2010 was achieved.<ref name=faoun/>

==== Crops ====
[[File:حقول القمح بمحافظة قنا قرية حجازة قبلي.jpg|thumb|A [[wheat]] field in [[Qena Governorate|Qena]], Egypt]]
According to [[List of largest producing countries of agricultural commodities|2022 statistics]] from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Egypt is the world's largest producer of [[date palm|dates]] and [[artichokes]]; the second largest producer of [[Ficus|figs]] and [[broad beans|fava beans]]; the third largest producer of [[onions]], [[eggplant]]s, and [[cuniculture|rabbit]] meat; the fourth largest producer of [[strawberry|strawberries]], [[garlic]], [[buffalo meat|buffalo]] and [[goose]] meat as well as the fifth largest producer of [[buffalo milk]], tomatoes and [[watermelon]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Egypt: main crops by production volume 2021 |url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/1063560/egypt-main-crops-by-production-volume/ |access-date=2024-06-28 |website=Statista |language=en}}</ref>

Cotton has long been a primary exported cash crop, but it is no longer vital as an export. Egypt is a substantial producer of wheat, maize, [[sugarcane]], fruit and vegetables, [[fodder]],<ref name="IbrahimIbrahim2003">{{cite book|first1=Fouad N.|last1=Ibrahim|first2=Barbara|last2=Ibrahim|title=Egypt: An Economic Geography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rdyv_lA95aUC&pg=PA133|date=5 December 2003|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-1-86064-548-8|pages=133–}}</ref> and rice; but also needs to import significant quantities of wheat and maize, primarily from Ukraine and Russia, despite yield increases since 1970. This is largely due to high domestic demand, driven by subsidies and a [[Egyptian cuisine#Bread|culinary preference]] for bread, alongside Egypt’s limited arable land and a focus on cultivating high-value export crops such as vegetables. Egypt exports rice but this can vary periodically based on government regulations, which are influenced by water and land use considerations.{{Citation needed|date=February 2025}}

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Egypt's Production, Imports and Total Consumption of Wheat and Corn (Maize)<br /> (thousand metric tons and fiscal years)
|- style="background:#ccc;"
| Item || 2011 || 2012 || 2013 || 2014 || 2015 || 2016 || 2017 || 2018 || 2019 || 2020 || 2021 || 2022
|- style="text-align:right;"
| style="background:#a1f4bb; text-align:center;"|'''Wheat''' || colspan="12"| 
|- style="text-align:right;"
| style="background:#ddd; text-align:left;"| Production || 8,400 || 8,500 || 8,250 || 8,300 || 8,100 || 8,100 || 8,450 || 8,450 || 8,770 || 8,900 || 9,000 || 9,800 
|- style="text-align:right;"
| style="background:#ddd; text-align:left;"| Imports || 11,650 || 8,400 || 10,150 || 11,300 || 11,925 || 11,181 || 12,407 || 12,354 || 12,811 || 12,149 || 12,000 || 11,000
|- style="text-align:right;"
| style="background:#ddd; text-align:left;"| Total consumption || 18,600 || 18,700 || 18,500 || 19,100 || 19,200 || 19,400 || 19,800 || 20,100 || 20,300 || 20,600 || 20,500 || 20,600
|- style="text-align:right;"
| style="background:#fedcba; text-align:center;"| '''Maize''' || colspan="12"|
|- style="text-align:right;"
| style="background:#ddd; text-align:left;"| Production || 5,500 || 5,800 || 5,800 || 5,960 || 6,000 || 6,000 || 6,400 || 6,800 || 6,400 || 6,400 || 7,440 || 7,440
|- style="text-align:right;"
| style="background:#ddd; text-align:left;"| Imports || 7,154 || 5,059 || 8,791 || 7,839 || 8,722 || 8,773 || 9,464 || 9,367 || 10,432 || 9,633 || 9,200 || 9,200
|- style="text-align:right;"
| style="background:#ddd; text-align:left;"| Total consumption || 11,700 || 12,000 || 13,200 || 13,900 || 14,850 || 15,100 || 15,900 || 16,200 || 16,900 || 16,400 || 16,400 || 16,400
|- style="font-size:smaller; text-align:left;"
| colspan="13" |
'''Sources''': <ref name="Wheat production">{{Cite web |url=https://www.indexmundi.com/agriculture/?country=eg&commodity=wheat&graph=production |title=Egypt Wheat Production by Year |website=Index Mundi |publisher=Index Mundi |access-date=2025-04-17}}</ref>
<ref name="Wheat imports">{{Cite web |url=https://www.indexmundi.com/agriculture/?country=eg&commodity=wheat&graph=imports |title=Egypt Wheat Imports by Year |website=Index Mundi |publisher=Index Mundi |access-date=2025-04-17}}</ref>
<ref name="Wheat consumption">{{Cite web |url=https://www.indexmundi.com/agriculture/?country=eg&commodity=wheat&graph=domestic-consumption |title=Egypt Wheat Domestic Consumption by Year |website=Index Mundi |publisher=Index Mundi |access-date=2025-04-17}}</ref>
<ref name="Maize production">{{Cite web |url=https://www.indexmundi.com/agriculture/?country=eg&commodity=corn&graph=production |title=Egypt Maize Production by Year |website=Index Mundi |publisher=Index Mundi |access-date=2025-04-17}}</ref>
<ref name="Maize imports">{{Cite web |url=https://www.indexmundi.com/agriculture/?country=eg&commodity=corn&graph=imports |title=Egypt Maize Imports by Year |website=Index Mundi |publisher=Index Mundi |access-date=2025-04-17}}</ref>
<ref name="Maize consumption">{{Cite web |url=https://www.indexmundi.com/agriculture/?country=eg&commodity=corn&graph=domestic-consumption |title=Egypt Maize Domestic Consumption by Year |website=Index Mundi |publisher=Index Mundi |access-date=2025-04-17}}</ref>
|}

[[File:Flowers Harvest.jpg|thumb|Flower production.]]
Land is worked intensively and yields are high. Increasingly, modern techniques are applied to producing fruits, vegetables and flowers, in addition to cotton, for export. Further improvement is possible. The most common traditional farms occupy {{convert|1|acre|ha|order=flip}} each, typically in a canal-irrigated area along the banks of the Nile. Many small farmers also own cows, [[Domestic buffalo|water buffalo]]s, and chickens. Between 1953 and 1971, some farms were [[collective farming|collectivised]], especially in [[Upper Egypt]] and parts of the [[Nile Delta]].

[[Cactus|Cacti]], particularly [[cactus pears]], are widely cultivated across Egypt, including Sinai, and extend into neighboring countries. Introduced during the [[Columbian Exchange]], they have become a significant crop in the region.<ref name="Woodfin-2012">{{cite book | last=Woodfin | first=Edward C. | title=Camp and Combat on the Sinai and Palestine Front : The experience of the British Empire Soldier, 1916{{emdash}}18 | publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] | publication-place=Houndmills, [[Basingstoke]], Hampshire, & [[New York City]] | year=2012 | isbn=978-0-230-30376-8 | oclc=779244382 | pages=xix+220}}</ref>

The government exercises a strong degree of control over agriculture, usually through financial incentives and export bans, not only to ensure the best use of irrigation water but also to confine the planting of water intensive crops like cotton in favor of food grains. However, the government's ability to achieve this objective is limited by [[crop rotation]]al constraints.<ref>Klausz, Jesse. "Economy of Egypt." Lecture.</ref>

==== Land ownership ====
[[File:Egyptian Countryside R02.jpg|thumb|Farmland in the Egyptian countryside]]

The agrarian reform law of 1952 provided that no one might hold more than 200 [[feddan]]s, that is, {{convert|84|ha|acre}} (1 Egyptian feddan=0.42 hectares=1.038 acres), for farming, and that each landholder must either farm the land himself or rent it under specified conditions. Up to 100 additional feddans might be held if the owner had children, and additional land had to be sold to the government. In 1961, the upper limit of landholding was reduced to 100 feddans, and no person was allowed to lease more than 50 feddans. Compensation to the former owners was in bonds bearing a low rate of interest, redeemable within 40 years. A law enacted in 1969 reduced landholdings by one person to 50 feddans.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Seyam G.M., El Bilassi A.O. |date=1995 |title=Land tenure structure in Egyptian agriculture: Changes and impacts |url=https://om.ciheam.org/om/pdf/b09/CI950935.pdf |website=CIHEAM |pages=50–64}}</ref>

By the mid-1980s, 90% of all land titles were for holdings of less than five feddans ({{convert|2.1|ha|acre|abbr=off}}), and about 300,000 families, or 8% of the rural population, had received land under the agrarian reform program. According to a 1990 agricultural census, there were some three million small land holdings, almost 96% of which were under five feddans. As these small landholdings restricted the ability of farmers to use modern machinery and agricultural techniques that improve and take advantage of [[economies of scale]], there have since the late 1980s been many reforms attempting to deregulate agriculture by liberalizing input and output prices and eliminating crop area controls. As a result, the gap between world and domestic prices for Egyptian agricultural commodities has been closed.<ref>{{cite book |last=Moshrif |first=R. |title=Long-term Land Inequality and Post-Colonial Land Reform in Egypt (1896–2020) |publisher=World Inequality Lab |series=Working Paper 2025/07 |date=April 2025 |page=14 |language=en}}</ref>

==== Climate change ====
{{excerpt|Climate change in Egypt|Agriculture}}