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An economic study on feed-stuffs in Egypt
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Abstract: ________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Egyptian Journal of Agricultural Economics. Egyptian Association of Agricultural Economics. Vol.(18), No.(4), Cairo, Egypt, December 2008.
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Feed-stuffs are vital factors of production that identify the capacity of livestock production in Egypt. On the other hand, the demand on feed-stuffs is derived from the demand on animal products (i.e. meat, dairy products and eggs). Thus, an increase of demand on these products results in an increase in demand on feed-stuffs.
However, the current study aims at analyzing the current situation of feed-stuffs in Egypt in terms of needs, production and imports, besides, estimating the gap of feed-stuffs and its main sources. Moreover, suggesting some schemes to provide feed-stuffs for the advancement of various kinds of animal production and to increase Egypt’s self-sufficiency ratio of animal products together with increasing the average per capita of animal products.
The results showed that the annual average animal unit in Egypt is estimated at about 12.48 million during the period (2004-2006), and that its needs of feed-stuffs is about 41.60 million tons of green fodders, about 10.00 million tons of wheat hay and about 16.60 million tons of concentrated feed-stuffs during the same period.
On the other hand, the consumption of available feed-stuffs in Egypt is estimated at 64.198 million tons of green fodders, about 9.615 million tons of wheat hay and about 5.917 million tons of concentrated feed-stuffs.
Nevertheless, meeting the needs of feed-stuffs for livestock in Egypt by the available feed-stuffs for consumption shows a surplus of green fodders estimated at about 22.639 million tons, whereas, the results showed a large deficit in concentrated feed-stuffs estimated 10.682 million tons, besides, a deficit in wheat hay estimated at about 330.000 thousand tons, since livestock breeders depend on green fodders to feed their animals as a result of the high prices of concentrated feed-stuffs in addition to the inability to buy these feed-stuffs.
Moreover, it should be noted that the surplus in green fodders can be enough to feed about 6.8 million animal units, resulting in increasing the domestic production and raising the self-sufficiency ratio of animal products. However, this surplus could save about 755 thousand feddans of the area of Egyptian clover in winter season that can give about 2 million tons of wheat when cultivated by wheat instead of Egyptian clover.
The results also showed that in spite of the growing numbers of livestock feed-stuffs production plants in Egypt during the period (1993-2006) from 63 plants in 1993 to 144 plants in 2006, increasing its total capacity from 4370 thousand tons in 1993 to 5.796 million tons in 2006, the results showed a decline in the actual production of feed-stuffs for these plants from 1.761 million tons in 1993 to 1.402 million tons in 2006, representing an annual average operating percentage of about 37.4% during the period (1993-2006), indicating the presence of large idle investments in this field of production besides, high fixed costs for the ton of feed-stuffs produced in these plants.
The results showed that Egypt's imports of feed-stuffs is comprised of corn, soybeans and bran, whereas, the average total value of Egyptian imports of the most important components for feed-stuffs during the period (1993 - 2007) is estimated at about L.E. 2670 million annually.
However, the adoption of Egypt in access to imports of feed-stuffs on a limited number of countries (i.e. USA, Argentina and Brazil) besides. The trend of those countries to use both corn and soybeans in the production of bio-fuels results in higher corn and soybeans prices, a higher burden on agricultural balance of trade and difficulty in getting them. This situation requires an investigation for other countries to import fodder grains and live animals and livestock products from, besides motivating agricultural producers to cultivate more areas by corn and soybeans and expanding the utilization of agricultural residues in animal feed and giving the optimal ration for animals to ensure the needs of livestock and poultry production of feed-stuffs and provide the increasing population with its needs of animal protein.
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| Publication year |
2008
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مكتبة معهد بحوث الاقتصاد الزراعي-7 ش نادى الصيد - مبنى الهيئات والشركات - الدقي- الجيزة (الدور الرابع)
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القاهرة
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| serial title |
المجلة المصرية للاقتصاد الزراعي
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| Author(s) from ARC |
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| External authors (outside ARC) |
كمال صالح عبدالحميد الدالي
قسم الاقتصاد الزراعى - كلية الزراعة بالقاهرة – جامعة الازهر
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Journal
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