48
"The repercussions of the global financial crisis on food in Egypt" Reality and challenges
This report is issue No. "48" of the Land & Farmers series. The report contains a vision on global food crisis, the financial crisis and its impact on agriculture and food in Egypt.
The Land Center for Human Rights asserts that the world is facing many challenges in the issue of world food, most notably the rise in food prices, climate change and the consequent negative effects economically, socially and environmentally, and the increasing risk of food shortages due to the production of bio-energy at the expense of food.
The report drew attention to the fact that the global food crisis revealed the importance of "food self-sufficiency" for developing countries including Egypt, as many of them had ignored the investment in agriculture due to low world food prices over the past 25 years, but with the continuing decline in soil fertility, climate change and water scarcity for agriculture products, agricultural crops decreased continuously, and on the other hand, increased agricultural imports in developing countries due to increased population and increased demand, leading to increased agricultural imports and the loss of "food sovereignty" on an ongoing basis.
The report stressed that the agricultural sector is one of the key sectors in the Egyptian economy as a sector in charge of food security, a major source of productive sectors to provide input and other service, in addition to the role of agricultural exports to improve the balance of payments, as it absorbs about 34% of the workforce.
The report warned that the food crisis in Egypt has developed according to the growth rates of production and consumer demand for food products, and there was almost unanimous that it had reached a critical point is reflected in the growing reliance on external sources to feed its citizens, and the deterioration of per capita agricultural output, and declining contribution of the agricultural sector in the total local income.
The report emphasized that poverty in Egypt is human industry caused by the failure of development policies that were followed since the mid-twentieth century and finally led to disastrous results in the area of poverty and impoverishment, with 20.5 million poor Egyptians in the category of extreme poverty earning less than a dollar a day, and 35.8 million on less than two dollars a day, while the market share of 20% of the Egyptian population have 43.6% of the national income, and the poorest 20% of the population live on 8.6% of the national income.
The report pointed out that the demands of the Egyptian agricultural sector in the coming years to bear the consequences may be overworked due to the neglect over the years, which made Egypt a net importer of food.
The report warns agricultural economists of the repercussions of the impact of the global financial crisis on the agricultural sector, which threaten Egypt's agricultural development and reflect on other development programs. Experts are also expecting that the crisis is affecting the programs and plans to encourage farmers to grow strategic crops such as wheat, corn and sunflower, which would lead to dependence on imports from abroad again, and retreat from the policies of approaching self-sufficiency in these crops, as well as declining growth rates in agriculture in Egypt.
The report says that there is a threat against attempts to achieve self-sufficiency of wheat in Egypt due to the global financial and economic crisis, which led to the global decline in the prices of food grains in the world market. All indications point to the farmers away from growing wheat during the current planting season and went on to plant clover, which indicates a food disaster.
The report predicts that the move away from investments in the agricultural sector under the current situation will be resulting in reduced employment opportunities in this sector, and the entry of new groups, especially the rural community under the poverty line, in addition to a possible migration from the countryside, especially in Upper Egypt, and the emergence of the reproductive pattern of compensatory largely due to increasing poverty.
The report shows in its final section the need to support farmers, the development of the Egyptian agriculture and the adoption of alternative agricultural policies and integrated development which will provide food security and a dignified life for the Egyptians through the systems of social, economic and political right. Also to ensure that farmers have the right to the formation of associations, without the guardianship of the state bodies, and associations of agricultural funds seized by the Bank of Development be able to play its role in agricultural development and improve rural conditions and overcome the economic crisis to ensure the renaissance of our country, which will contribute to ensure social justice and human rights for all Egyptians.
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