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Water is the main component of sustainable and integrated development in Egypt, and the horizontal expansion in agriculture is related to the state's ability to procure the water necessary for this expansion. The main problem with water resources is the imbalance between the increase in water demand and the availability of obtained quantity. Also agriculture occupies the largest share in the use of water resources and the economic return is not proportional with this use, where it consumes about 76.7% of the available water resources in 2017. Also, the study illustrate the current state of water resources, whether traditional and non-traditional water resources. Estimate the productive and economic efficiency of the water unit in agricultural use by estimating the productivity of m3 water, returning to m3 water. Study of some indicators of sustainable development of water resources. Therefore, the paper relied on the study of the water use efficiency index and the water stress index, also descriptive and quantitative analyses methods through estimating the annual growth rate, percentages and averages to achieve its goals using published and unpublished data in economic publications of Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, Ministry of Planning, Follow-up and Administrative Reform and Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics. Among the most important results obtained is that the annual growth rate of available water resources reached about 1%, while the annual growth rate of agricultural use of available water resources reached about 0.4% during the period (2005-2017). It was also found that sugar cane and rice crops have a relatively high water rating, and it was clarified that the crops of persistent alfalfa, aground alfalfa and full-ripe onions have a relatively high productivity advantage, and it was found that onion crops, ripe garlic, chickpeas and persistent alfalfa, are relatively highly economical compared to the rest of the crops in 2017. It was also found that the efficiency of water use reached its maximum in 2016 (about $ 3.9/m3), while it was found that water stress reached 117.5% in 2016, and it rose to about 120% in 2018, which greatly affects resource sustainability. This study recommend the necessity of spreading water awareness among the members of society to achieve the optimal use of the available water resources, also expansion of crops with high productivity and economic advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

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]

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]

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]