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It is believed that the declining contribution of the agricultural sector to Egypt's GDP is due to many factors such as the nature of agriculture itself and the structure of its land holdings in addition to the modesty of public investments that are allotted to the sector. For example, 4 percent only of national investments were devoted to the agricultural sector in the fiscal year 2014/2015. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the effect of public investment on the growth of the agricultural sector through the application of the vector autoregressive model (VAR) and the Granger causality test for the relationship between investment on one hand and growth of the agricultural economy on the other hand. The results reveal that there is a one directional causality between investment and growth. The decomposition analysis indicates that investment strongly and positively impacts the growth of the agricultural sector. The study recommends the expansion of public investment in agricultural infrastructure in order to lower the costs of production and to attract private investment to the agricultural sector. It is recommended also that the banking system should provide loans to the agricultural enterprises at low interest rates. Low interest loans should encourage farmers to take the risk and invest in new agricultural projects and to upgrade their old farms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Egypt depends on the Nile River as a major source of water, it provides about 76.3% of its water requirements, other water sources provides about 23.7% of total water requirements. Agriculture sector is the main consumer of water in Egypt as it consumed about 85.9% of the total actual consumption of water in 2009. The main problem of the present paper is the decrease in the efficiency of water use in Egyptian agriculture. The objective of paper is to assess the efficiency of water use in agriculture in the old and new land Egypt through the use of partial efficiency measures. Results showed that inaverage of the cost of irrigation per feddan during the period (1998-2009), that was for winter crops in the old lands as follows: 85.3, 105.8, 119.3, 127.3 pounds/feddan for faba bean, sugar beet, alfalfa sustained, wheat at a cost of irrigation per feddan of which respectively. For summer crops in old land cost was about 114.7, 129.5, 139.8, 156.2, 217.8, 606.1 pounds/ feddan at a cost of, sesame, soybean, peanut, corn, rice, sugar cane, respectively. For the winter crops in the new lands irrigation cost per feddan was about L.E 99.3, 169.0 for garlic and onion respectively. Summer crops in the new lands irrigation costs for watermelon, cucumber, potatoes, eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes were as follows: L.E 92.4, 133, 138.7, 139.8, 157.7, 194.3 pounds/feddan respectively. The results of the statistical analysis of partial-efficiency measures showed that, according to the criterion of net revenue from the water unit - winter crops on the old land as follows: alfalfa, wheat, faba bean, and sugar beet. As for the summer crops of old land the results showed of the statistical estimate of the partial-efficiency measures that peanuts, corn, sesame, sugar cane, rice, soybeans respectively. In the new lands the results of statistical analysis for the partial-efficiency measures, according to the standard net return of the water unit for winter crops were garlic followed by the first crop of onions. As for the summer crops, the results of statistical analysis of partial-efficiency measures, according to the standard net return of the water unit came summer crops in the new lands, were as follows: potatoes, tomatoes, watermelon, cucumber, eggplant, pepper. The results in general indicated the necessaries of reconsidering the present structure of cropping pattern to increase the efficiency of irrigation water use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Egyptian agriculture sector has suffered from the governmental interventions that led to decreasing the efficiency of using the sector's resources especially those related to pricing of wheat, com and rice as strategic crops. These interventions led to market and price distortions. Accordingly, this paper, aims to investigate these distortions and evaluate the price policy using Policy Analysis Matrix and to investigate the price imbalances using the partial Equilibrium Model. The Policy Analysis Matrix for wheat shows that the nominal rate of protection for outputs is 0.23 as an average for the study period (2000-2013) and the effective rate of protection for the same period is 0.17. It has also shown that the nominal rate of protection for the inputs is 1.13. The average cost of local inputs for wheat has shown to be 0.068 as an average for the study period and the profitability coefficient is 0.106 for the same period. As for corn, the nominal rate of protection for outputs is 0.25 as an average for the study period (2000-2013) and the effective rate of protection for the same period is 0.18. It has also shown that the nominal rate of protection for the inputs is 1.17. The average cost of local inputs for wheat has shown to be 0.069 as an average for the study period and the profitability coefficient is 0.11 for the same period. As for rice, the nominal rate of protection for outputs is 0.133 as an average for the study period (2000-2013) and the effective rate of protection for the same period is 0.097. It has also shown that the nominal rate of protection for the inputs is 1.105. The average cost of local inputs for wheat has shown to be 0.038 as an average for the study period and the profitability coefficient is 0.059 for the same period. .. Using the Partial Equilibrium Model for wheat, several indicators estimated. These indicators include; the average net economic loss in production, average net economic loss in consumption, average net social loss, average loss- in production surplus, average consumer gains, average loss in government revenue, and change in foreign cash. Values of these indicators are 2.2, 3,5.2,5.4, 10.5, 55, and 13.4 million EGP respectively as an average for the study period. As for com, the same indicators estimated. Values of these indicators are 1.1, 1.6,2.6,3.9,6.6,31, and 7.1 million EGP respectively as an average for the study period. As for rice, the same indicators estimated. Values of these indicators are 3.5, 3.65, 7.2, 12.9, 12.5, 23.6, and 16.6 million EGP respectively as an average for the study period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]