Search

Egypt's agricultural land is limited to about 3.8% of its total area, However, it faces a problem of encroachment and conversion to non-agricultural uses, in particular, construction, The study aims to assess the negative /positive impacts of agricultural land conversion via construction on the social and personal levels, However, the results reveal the following:- The main negative impact for agricultural land lies in its area loss that amounted to about 10.517 feddan in Menoufia governorate compared to about a total loss of about 145.213 feddan during the period from 1983 to January 2018, In addition, the costs required for Menoufia governorate to reclaim new land to compensate for this loss is estimated at 2.3 billion pounds compared to about 32.5 billion pounds for grand total construction conversion. For irrigation water, the negative impact in Menoufia governorate is estimated at 161.8 million cubic meters of water that needed to new lands reclamation to compensate for the loss in old agricultural lands compared to about 2.9 billion cubic meters of water for grand total construction conversion allover Egypt. For agricultural crops, the negative effect embodies the loss of about 287,63 thousand tons from various crops in Menofuia governorate compared to about 3.475.7 thousand tons all over Egypt, In other words, there is an annual forgone income in Menofuia governorate estimated by LE 387,5 million compared to about 4.9 billion all over Egypt. For agricultural employment, the negative effect embodies the loss in agricultural employment opportunities in encroached land area, That is estimated by about 0.86 million men/working days in Menoufia governorate compared to about 11.73 million men / working days all over Egypt. On the other hand, the positive impact is confined to: (1) About the cultivated land area will be increased by the equivalent area size which converted to construction activity (2) The notable increase in average market value per feddan due to its construction activity transformation that reaches about 33 fold of its value in villages (rural area) compared to about 100 fold to its value in cities (urban area), (3) Cultivating in new virgin lands free of polluted chemical residuals compared to polluted old lands (due to over use of fertilizers and chemical pesticides) (4) Reducing the population density in countryside, thus reducing agricultural land demand for construction activities. For irrigation water, the positive effects are: (1) saving the amount of water that was used to irrigate the agricultural before construction conversion, In which is estimated at about 84.94 million cubic meters for Menoufia compared to 1.434 billion cubic meters for grand total construction conversion allover Egypt, (2) Reducing and rationing irrigation water consumption via employing modern irrigation methods developed by sprinkling and drip, saving about 40% of conventional irrigation water consumption. While, the positive effect constitutes the increasing of agricultural production from different crops by about 984.6 thousand tons compared to about 8.098 thousand tons all over Egypt as due to the increase in reclaimed than the encroached land by its equivalence area, In addition, the possibility of using agricultural mechanization and extension technological packages, Thus, the estimated annual increase in revenues for Menoufia governorate could reach about LE 984.3 million compared to about LE 11.4 billion all over Egypt, Moreover, producing of healthy crops free of chemical residuals due to employing bio agricultural technologies in reclaimed land, Thus, maintaining of the citizens health and increasing farmer’s income due to high bio products prices. On the other hand, the positive effect constitutes the increase in employment opportunities in newly reclaimed areas by about 2.2 million men/working days in Menoufia governorate compared to 27.33 million men/working days all over Egypt. The paper also addressed the most important reasons that encourage encroachment on agricultural land via construction, Moreover, it suggested some proposals for overcoming encroachments on agricultural land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial planning is the most important part of national planning in developing countries such as the Arab Republic of Egypt. Processing industries such as the Biscuits industry are growing fast. There fore an increasing share of industrial output is attributed to them. However, costs of production are one of the most important indicators for the economic efficiency in the use of economic resources in various processing industries. The research problem is presented in the deficient supply of various raw materials required for the Biscuits processing industries around the year, which leads to higher costs of production. The objective of this investigation are: (1) estimation of the optimum size and profit maximizing output, (2) estimation of the technical, economic and price efficiencies, (3) estimation of the optimum cost of production. However, due to the production of several varieties of biscuits in the "Bisco Misr" company, this research paper will cover only the "Lux Biscuits" because it is one of the most important varieties, with an average production amounting to 5926.9 tons in 2012, representing 43.6 % of the total productions in El Suaf Processing Factory, amounting to 13593.6 tons in the same year. The most important results of the study include: (1) The Egyptian company for Food Production "Bisco Misr" is considered one of the pioneering companies in Biscuits production . Its market share amount to 20% of the Egyptian Biscuits Market, (2) The number of labor force in the company amounts to 2888 person in 2011, and their total wages amount to 91.8 million pounds, (3) The company total production amounts to 397.7 million pounds in 2011, (4) the statistical estimation of the lux Biscuits costs of production functions, in El Suaf Factory in Alexandria, indicates that the cubic function is the best mathematical form, it also indicate that the optimum amount of output is estimated by 7943 tons, and the profit maximizing output amount to 9414 tons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]