Cairo - Seham Ahmed
The Egyptian Agricultural economics' professor at the University of Banha, Dr. Zakaria al-Haddad, revealed that corruption suffered by the agricultural sector now is the result of the former regime's policies, particularly the economic dredging policy, which led to the failure, which requires speed to get rid of the consequences of this negative system, through the creation of a community, with full awareness of the political, economic and social levels.
The professor of agricultural economics noted that the scientific research is suffering from many problems, which led to the weakness of the production of science, explaining that the Egyptian agriculture has not seen an update since the days of Muhammad Ali, which requires developing programs rely on linking the Ministry of Agriculture with modern technology to keep up with the times.
Haddad pointed out that the continuation of the agriculture's deterioration in Egypt comes primarily as a result of the peasant's use of sterile methods prevailed since the days of the Pharaohs, as well as the lack of application of modern methods of cultivation.
The professor said that he submitted some projects that can provide Egypt with revenues reach to 150 billion pounds after six years from now, in addition to providing $ 7 billion in imports by Egypt, and 20 billion pounds in the energy that is used in agriculture allocations, urging not to resort to the reclamation of new land only after reforming the current land and resolving its problems, because the current agricultural production does not exceed 50%.
Regarding the possibility of achieving self-sufficiency in wheat, he said, "We can achieve this if we follow the modern science and technology methods, adding that some countries cultivate million acres and profit from it more than $ 5 billion, while Egypt cultivates seven million acres, consuming 54 billion cube meters of water, and earns only $ 8 billion, and the difference between us and them is the use of modern technologies in agriculture.
He criticized the fatal errors committed by the government, represented by the Ministry of Supply, through the supply of wheat last season, which resulted in the loss of almost two billion pounds.
Haddad added that Egypt has 13.2 million watery acres, though it produces about one million tons of fish, including 120 thousand tons from the sea, and the rest is produced from inland lakes, such as Manzala, Borollos and Lake Nasser, pointed out that fish farms produce about 700 thousand tons, revealing the Dutch study was prepared in collaboration with the Ministry of Irrigation, confirmed the contamination of fish production in Egypt in large quantities of lead that causes cancer.
He also criticized the government's situation in dealing with the Renaissance Dam's issue, warning of the danger of completing the implementation of dam under Ethiopia's terms , because it will lose Egypt 2.5 million acres, and raise the food bill to $ 30 billion, in addition to the displacement of more than 3.5 million peasant families, along with the disappearance of river tourism.