Sustainable Agricultural Development Strategy towards 2030.

Purpose of the Sustainable Agricultural Development Strategy towards 2030 is modernizing Egyptian agriculture based on achieving food security and improving the livelihood of the rural inhabitants, through the efficient use of development resources and the utilization of its environmental advantages. To reach the purpose, this national multi-sectoral document indicates a series of objectives, the main ones are: promoting sustainable use of natural agricultural resources; increase the productivity of both the land and water units; raising the degree of food security of the strategic food commodities; increasing the competitiveness of agricultural products in local and international markets; improving the climate for agricultural investment; improving the livelihood of rural inhabitants, and reducing rural poverty.Food security issue, in some cases, is faced following a twin-track approach for a longer term strategy: by promoting self-sufficiency in strategic food commodities imported at present through development programs, institutional reform and introduction of new policies; by giving attention to improving nutritional standards and dietary patterns, encouraging the consumption of local high-value food products; by reducing pre- and post-harvest food losses to half their present levels; by improving food quality and safety that requires updating of food standards, enacting necessary laws and control arrangements to enforce these standards, in coordination with Codex Alimentarious, OIE and IPPC; by animal production development, in particular the poultry production, also with a gender sensitive approach to guarantee an additional source of household income; by acting on the deterioration of agricultural land, and restoring and increasing its efficiency; by rationalizing water use; by developing capture fisheries; by developing voluntary institutions (i.e. civil society organizations and agricultural cooperatives) and a contract farming policy; by improving investment climate; by research, extension and technology transfer.Sustainability is one of the main pillars of the strategy. The target is maximizing sustainable productivity levels of both land and water units emphasizing research, extension and technology transfer (Part II.4) by: enhancing water-use efficiency in irrigated agriculture, which implies improving the irrigation system and reducing the areas planted to rice; sustainable expansion of reclaimed areas, using also the water saved through improving irrigation system; maximizing the sustainable returns of rainfed agriculture through improvement of water harvesting techniques; maintaining and protecting agricultural land through periodical soil surveys, continued restoration and maintenance of the drainage system; creating job opportunities particularly for the younger generation in agricultural and related activities. Sustainability is also provided in encouraging the fisheries policy review and development of lake fisheries production.Objective of the Strategy is also farmers' improvement and reducing rural poverty. It primarily aims to improve livelihood of the rural poors through efficient and sustainable use of natural resources and introduction policies and programs to take the rural areas out of the restricted one-sided agricultural development and place them within a wider perspective, including: expanding activities in both the production and marketing of agricultural products; developing a plan to expand newly-reclaimed areas, as well as to establish integrated agro-industrial communities supported by different social services; encouraging and developing handicrafts and small rural industries, through improved marketing; maximizing farmers utilization of agricultural residues; promoting and supporting small farmers’ associations, particularly in the field of agricultural marketing; and promoting the role of women in the different fields of rural development (Part II.4).Participation of stakeholders (in particular farmers, poor inhabitants and rural women) is encouraged: reclaiming a transparent mechanism for monitoring and evaluating extension activities, with the participation of researchers and farmers; promoting small farmers’ participation in achieving the state’s export objectives, particularly of non-traditional high-return crops and stimulating farmers’ participation in improving agricultural practices and techniques.To endure natural disaster an agricultural financial assistance policy, with a gender-sensitive design, is taken into consideration. It should be established three technical units: Risk Management and Mitigation Unit to be responsible for monitoring changes in the international and regional arenas and taking necessary actions for addressing the probable dangers. It is also proposed the establishment of a modern national network covering all areas, for monitoring climate and environment variables. Such a network would operate in agricultural research and extension, early warning, risk prevention, assessment and management (Part II.5). In the Development Programs and Projects chapter, a section is dedicated to the protection of agricultural land from desertification, which aims to protect agriculture, land, rangelands, and the biological diversity from quantitative and qualitative deterioration (Annex II 2.3).The Strategy proposes also implementation mechanisms for achieving its Strategic Objectives, highlighting the importance of the reform of the MALR, its institutions, the cooperative sector and civil society organizations active in the agricultural sector (Part.II.5).Since it is considered necessary to know the attributes of the different regions, as well as the problems, constraints and development opportunities, Egypt has been divided into five geographical regions: Upper Egypt, Middle Egypt, Middle Delta, Eastern Delta and Western Delta. The Annexes contain details pertaining to the distinctive potential and determinants in each region.