الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract 1. INTRODUCTION Agriculture is the backbone of Egypt’s national economy. This is because the agricultural sector houses nearly 50% of the labor force, accounts for about 15% of the growth domestic product, contributes approximately 30% of the total foreign exchange earnings, supplies the domestic industry with raw materials and provides food for evergrowing population. The current situation in Egypt is framed by a food gap, since the total cultivated area is 3.6 million hectares (1 hectare equals 2.4 feddan), making only 4% of country’s total area. This small area is no longer enough to supply food demand due to the growing population with an annual rate of 1.84%, changing food diets and competition of arable land and other activities. Therefore, decades ago, the governments have adopted national land reclamations programs to compensate the loss of fertile lands in the Nile Velley in Delta and to increase the agricultural production. Recently, sustainable agricultural development strategy (SADS) towards 2030 has been considered. Sustainable use of agricultural |