In 2003, the agricultural sector accounted for 16.81 percent of Egypt’s GDP and employed about 31 percent of the labour force, of which 49 percent were female. In Egypt, 99.8 percent of cropland was irrigated in 1997.

Even the small, more humid area along the Mediterranean coast requires supplementary irrigation to produce reasonable yields. Smallholdings characterize Egyptian agriculture; about 50 percent of holdings have an area less than 0.4 ha (1 feddan).

Farmland urbanization represents a serious threat to agriculture in Egypt. It is prohibited by law to construct any buildings on farmland without a license from the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, and violators are prosecuted and face serious penalties.

The surface area of Irrigated land is 3,206,000 hectares. The yield of shellfish, mollusks and cephalopods is estimated at 12,176 metric tons, whereas the yield of saltwater fish is estimated at 129,896 metric tons. The Aquacultural yield is estimated at 309,576 metric tons.

Agriculture Sector's Indicators
Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation & Ministry of Planning

Indicator	1991/1992	2004/2005
Cultivated area (million feddan)	7.1	8.3
Cropped area (million feddan)	12.5	14.6
Wheat productivity/feddan (ardab)	14.72	18.2
Agricultural sector share of GDP (%)	16.5	13.9
Value of agricultural production (L.E. billion)	30.1	96.5
Value of agricultural export (L.E. billion)	1.4	5.8

Cotton is the main agricultural production in Egypt. In 1997, it increased in a 7%. Egyptian farming sector does not stop drawing particular attention of authorities. Egypt leads an encouraging policy of investments to improve foodstuff self-sufficiency. In terms of irrigation, investments keep rising.

In 1997, President Moubarak inaugurated the project for the Nile valley development. This zone (100,000 hectares) which was formerly desert and unexploited should attract numerous foreign investors since they will be exempted from taxes for 20 years, right from the beginning of the exploitation. Egypt is self-sufficient in almost all agricultural commodities with the exception of cereals, oils and sugar; however, these exceptions make Egypt one of the world’s largest food importers. Agricultural imports in 2001 included 4.4 million tons of wheat and wheat flour, 4.7 million tons of yellow maize, 0.6 million tons of vegetable oils and 0.4 million tons of sugar.

On the other hand, the main export crops were, amongst others, 53 000 tons of cotton, 444 000 tons of rice, 176 000 tons of potatoes and 37 000 tons of citrus.Farmland surface area: The areas under cultivation include arable lands and those with permanent crops. They represent 3,300,000 hectares in Egypt.

Crop-Yield Indicators
Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation

Crop	Yield (Metric Tons)	Surface (hectares)	Yield (hectograms/hectares)
Wheat	6,564,050	1,050,000	62,515
Rice Paddy	5,996,830	660	90,861
Corn	6,394,830	730	87.6
Potatoes	1,783,640	83	214,896
Watermelons	1,560,960	56	269.1

 

Livestock Indicators
Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation

Species	Headcount
Ovine races	4,450,000
Goats	3,300,000
Buffaloes	3,200,000
Cattle	3,180,000
Pigs	29.5