Abstract: ________________________________________________________________________________________________
• Egyptian Journal of Agricultural Economics. Egyptian Association of Agricultural Economics. Vol.(27), No.(4B), Cairo, Egypt, December 2017.
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Agricultural land is a finite resource. Therefore, horizontal expansion through reclamation of new lands has become one of the most important pillars of agricultural policy in Egypt. The sustainable agricultural development strategy till 2030 aims at reclaiming about 3.1 million feddans by 2030. However, land reclamation activities slow down due to many constraints e.g. lack of financial resources. These circumstances require an examination of the economic impacts of land reclamation in Egypt. Land reclamation activities in Egypt have been progressing since 1932, with about 400 thousand feddans reclaimed before 1952, and 1.041 million feddans reclaimed until 1981/82. Then, the "comprehensive planning" phase started and about 190, 850, 573, 132 and 326 thousand feddans were reclaimed during the first, second, third, fourth and fifth five-year plans, respectively. Besides, about 232 thousand feddans were reclaimed in 2006/2007, about 186 thousand feddans were reclaimed under the sixth five-year plan and about 22.9 thousand feddans were reclaimed in 12/2013, compared with 22.6 thousand feddans reclaimed in 13/2014, mostly by cooperatives and private sector companies.
Moreover, wheat, long berseem, barley and sugar beet were the key winter crops in the new lands during (2013-2015) whereas, maize, rice, peanuts, corn, sesame, cotton and tomatoes are the key summer crops in new lands. Besides, the area planted with fruit trees represented about 85% of the total permeant area in the new land. The average productivity of some crops and vegetables (e.g. faba bean, potatoes, corn and alfalfa) and fruit trees in new lands (e.g. orange, grapes, mangoes, bananas, figs, apricots, pears, apples, plums, olives and almonds) exceeded that obtained in the old lands during the same period. This could be due to modern agricultural techniques. Moreover, the cultivated and cropped areas reached about 8.99 and 15.61 million feddans during this period, respectively. However, the production of this area do not meet food needs for the population, reflecting the low self-sufficiency ratios of some key goods.
The new lands contribute to about 84%, 76%, 56%, 51%, 25%, 25%, 13%, 13%, 9%, 7%, 6% , 6%, 85%, 68%, 67%, 63%, 61%, 47% and 38% of the total self-sufficiency rates for peanuts, barley, tomatoes, sesame, potatoes, wheat, cotton seed oil, rice, maize, orange, apricot, mango, grape, olive, apple and banana, respectively. The new land contributes to about 21% of the average net agricultural income during this period. Besides, the new lands are suitable for the production for export through the modal investment farms in the new lands and for the establishment of sorting and packaging stations and projects for freezing and packing vegetables, as well as providing employment opportunities for rural people and addressing the problem of unemployment.
In light of these findings, the study recommends that the government play a major role in the establishment of the public utilities required for land reclamation, determining the cropping pattern for these lands, co-ordination between the various ministries and bodies concerned with land reclamation in order to plan and implement the infrastructure in the new lands.
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