Abstract
Egypt has been famous for its productive and prominent agriculture for many centuries. For the past two decades, its agricultural sector has faced innumerable constraints and issues, lowering its yields and limiting economic returns. Agricultural Extension and Advisory Service has played an appreciable role in elevating crop yields, that in turn contributed towards national economy and improved rural livelihoods. However, due to multiple distortions, National Extension System needs to be revisited. The chapter examines the present fuctioning of extension system, identifies the constraints faced by the agriculture sector and the shortcomings of the agricultural extension department. Based on these analyses, improvement measures have been suggested and viable and workable development strategies outlined for improving the working of extension. The objective of the chapter is to optimise farmer practices in sustainable agriculture to achieve food security. The information provided could be helpful to the farmers, the planners and the policy makers to develop the agricultural sector on sound footings by employing scientific principles and practices of sustainable agriculture to achieve food security in the country. An improved extension system can help realize sustainable agriculture and achieve food security if strong links are established among Egyptian Agricultural Departments (Agricultural Reseach and Development) and National Agricultural Extension Service (NAES). Further it is important to have a strong coordination to ehance the working efficiency of the both departments to meet national needs.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Abdelhakam, A. M. (2005) Chapter ii: Agricultural extension in Egypt. In Proceedings of FAO regional Workshop on Options of reform for agricultural extension in the near east. Amman, Jordan 2–4 October, 2004. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Regional Office for the near east, Cairo, 2005, pp. 22–26.
Al-Ahram Weekly. (2016). Egypt’s land shortage. http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/15779.aspx
Ariyo, O. C., Ariyo, M. O., Okelola, O. E., Aasa, O. S., Awotide, O. G., Aaron, A. J., & Oni, O. B. (2013). Assessment of the role of mass media in the dissemination of agricultural technologies among farmers in Kaduna North local government area of Kaduna State, Nigeria. Journal of Biology, Agriculture, and Healthcare., 3, 19–28.
Baig, M. B., & Aldosari, F. (2013). Agricultural extension in Asia: Constraints and options for improvement. The Journal of Animal & Plant Sciences, 23(2), 619–632.
Batisha, A. F. (2012). Adaptation of sea level rise in Nile Delta due to climate change. Journal of Earth Sciences Climate Change, 3, 114. https://doi.org/10.4172/2157-7617.1000114.
CAPMAS. (2016). http://www.capmas.gov.eg/ (the website of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics).
El-Din, O. K. (2007). Current situation. Chapter 3. In. Kruseman, Gideon and Vullings Wies (Eds.) Rural development policy in Egypt towards 2025. targeted conditional income support: A Suitable option. Alterra-Rapport, 1526. pp. 29–32.
El-Gamal, H. M. A. (2015). Study of some characteristics of agricultural extension pamphlets and its relation with readability level, MSc Thesis. Mansoura University, Egypt.
El-Laithy, H. (2007). Chapter 9: Employment, income and marketing. In G. Kruseman & W. Vullings (Eds.), Rural development policy in Egypt towards 2025. Targeted conditional income support: A suitable option (pp. 103–121). Alterra-Rapport, 1526.
El-Sayed, M. (2017). Egyptian invention cuts rice irrigation water by half. Available at: http://www.scidev.net/global/design/news/egyptian-invention-rice-irrigation-water.html
ENID. (2014). Reforming the agricultural extension services in Egypt: The case of the farmers field schools in Qena. Egypt Network for Integrated Development. Policy brief 29. Available at: http://www.enid.org.eg/Uploads/PDF/PB29_agric_extension.pdf
FAO. (2011). FAO achievements in Egypt. FAO representation in Egypt July 2011. Available at: http://www.fao.org/3/a-ba0006e.pdf
FAO. (2017). Country briefs – Egypt reference May 28, 2017 available at: http://www.fao.org/giews/countrybrief/country.jsp?code=EGY&lang=en
FAOSTAT. (2017). Egypt. Country indicators. Available at: http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#country/59
Global Arab Network. (2009). Modernization of agriculture in Egypt. Bulletin of the Arab-British Chamber of Commerce. Egypt Economic Report, Bank Audi, June 2009.
Goldfond, J. (2015). Food insecurity and climate change in Egypt. Available at: http://www.worldpress.org/article.cfm/Food-Insecurity-and-Climate-Change-in-Egypt. May 4, 2015.
Handoussa, H. (2010). Situational analysis: Key development challenges facing Egypt. Report of the Situational Analysis Taskforce, Cairo, Egypt. pp. 1–110.
ICARDA. (2011). Water and agriculture in Egypt. Technical paper based on the Egypt-Australia-ICARDA Workshop on On-farm Water-use Efficiency, July 2011, Cairo-Egypt.
IFAD. (2007). Egypt: Smallholder contract farming for high-value and organic agricultural exports Near East and North Africa Division. Programme Management Department.
IFAD. (2012). Arab Republic of Egypt – Country strategic opportunities programme.
IFPRI-WFP. (2013). Tackling Egypt’s rising food insecurity in a time of transition. A Joint IFPRI-WEP-CAPMAS Country Policy Note. May 2013. Available at: http://ebrary.ifpri.org/utils/getfile/collection/p15738coll2/id/127559/filename/127770.pdf
Kassem, H. S., Abdel-magieed, M. A., El-Gamal, H. M., & Aldosari, F. (2017). Effect of readability on farmers’ knowledge: An assessment of some agricultural Extension pamphlets. Life Science Journal, 14(4), 16–22. ISSN: 1097-8135 (Print) / ISSN: 2372-613X (Online). http://www.lifesciencesite.com. 3. https://doi.org/10.7537/marslsj140417.03
Lewis, Lowell N. (2012). Egypt’s future depends on agriculture and wisdom. Available at: http://aic.ucdavis.edu/calmed/August%2008,%20final%202d%20Egypt.pdf
MALR. (2009). Sustainable agricultural development strategy towards 2030. Cairo: Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation.
MEAS. (2011). USAID/Egypt office of productive sector development. Scoping mission: Assessment of agricultural advisory services in upper Egypt sustaining active and efficient associations.
Ministry of Agriculture. (2008). Economic and social development plan for the Year 2008/2009. Report of the ministry of agriculture. Cairo: Arab Republic of Egypt.
Ministry of Agriculture. (2011). Agricultural production in Egypt. Available at: http://www.agregypt.gov.eg/5-.
MWRI. (2005). Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI). 2005. National Water Resources Plan 2017: Water for the Future, Cairo: MWRI.
Rafea, A. (2010). Experience with building a rural and agricultural development communication network. Scientific and Technical Information and Rural Development IAALD XIIIth World Congress, Montpellier, 26–29 April 2010.
Sani, L., Boadi, B. Y., Oladokun, O., & Kalusopa, T. (2014). The generation and dissemination of agricultural information to farmers in Nigeria: A review. Journal of Agriculture and Veterinary Science., 7, 102–111.
Seada, T., Mohamed, R., Fletscher, T., Abouleish, H., Abouleish-Boes, M. (2016). Comparative study of organic and conventional food production systems in Egypt. Version 1.0. January 2016. Prepared by the Carbon Footprint Center (CFC), Heliopolis University for Sustainable Development (HU) and the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT). El Horreya Heliopolis, Cairo, Egypt.
Shalaby, M. Y., & Baig, M. B. (2010a). Rural development in Egypt: threats and challenges. Banat University of agricultural sciences and veterinary medicine, timisoara, Romania. Lucrări Ştiinţifice. Management Agricology. Serial I, XII(2), 169–182 ISSN:14531410. Available at http://www.usab-tm.ro/pdf/2010/management_2010.pdf
Shalaby, M. Y., Baig, M. B., & Al-Shayaa, M. S. (2010). Agricultural extension in Egypt: Issues and options for improvement. Arab Gulf Journal of Scientific Research, Bahrain, 28(4), 205–213.
Shalaby, M. Y., & Baig, M. B. (2010b). Rural development in Egypt: threats and challenges. Banat University of agricultural sciences and veterinary medicine, timisoara, Romania. Lucrări Ştiinţifice. Management Agricology. Serial I, XII(2), 169–182 ISSN:14531410. Available at http://www.usab-tm.ro/pdf/2010/management_2010.pdf
Shalaby, M. Y., Al-Zahrani, K. H., Baig, M. B., & Straquadine, G. S. (2012). Realizing sustainable agriculture through rural extension and environmental friendly farming technologies in Egypt: Basic ingredients. Bulgarian Journal of Agricultural Science, 18, 836–846.
Shaltout, M., Tonbol, K., & Omstedt, A. (2015). Sea-level change and projected future flooding along the Egyptian Mediterranean coast. Oceanologia, 57(4), 293–307. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oceano.2015.06.004.
Soliman, A. (2007). Agricultural and rural development notes. Building infrastructure and social capital in rural Egypt (pp. 1–4). Washington, DC: The World Bank.
USAID. (2011). Scoping mission: Assessment of agricultural advisory services in Upper Egypt. Sustaining active and efficient associations. August 2011. This Discussion Paper was produced as part of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) project “Modernizing Extension and Advisory Services” (MEAS). www.meas-extension.org Available at: https://www.agrilinks.org/sites/default/files/resource/files/MEAS%20Country%20Report%20EGYPT%20-%20May%202011.pdf
USAID. (2017). Agriculture and food security. Available at: https://www.usaid.gov/egypt/agriculture-and-food-security
Uzezi, O. P. (2015). Challenges of information dissemination to rural communities: A case of Niger-Delta communities, Nigeria. Journal of Emerging Trends in Computing and InformationSciences, 6, 350–354.
Vella, J. (2012). The future of food and water security in New Egypt. Dalkeith, Australia: Published by Future Directions International Pty Ltd.
Worldometers. 2017. Egypt population. Available at: http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/egypt-population/
Acknowledgements
The authors are extremely grateful and express their gratitude to the Saudi Society of Agricultural Sciences for extending us all the possible help and sincere cooperation toward the completion of this piece of work and research.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Baig, M.B., Straquadine, G.S., Qureshi, A.M., Hajiyev, A., Abou Hadid, A.F. (2019). Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security in Egypt: Implications for Innovations in Agricultural Extension. In: Behnassi, M., Pollmann, O., Gupta, H. (eds) Climate Change, Food Security and Natural Resource Management . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97091-2_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97091-2_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-97090-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-97091-2
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)