الفهرس 
REVIEW OF LITERATUREOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 159 |  |  |
| | | from | 159 | | |
Abstract
This study is aiming to evaluate the Virtual Water Trade in the Egyptian Agricultural Sector in light of the Water Footprint to achieve sustainable development
Due to increasing demand for water for development and to face the population growth, the uses of water resources of Egypt became one of the important issues. At the same time the country desire to increase agricultural exports and reduce imports, which requires some sort of balance between the current water stress and the country desires without sacrificing the sustainability of water resources uses. The virtual water and water footprint concept which emerged in the 1990’s as indicators on water use in the production of goods and services to assess the Egypt virtual water trade form each of the cereal crops represented in rice, wheat, maize, soybean and vegetable crops represented in potatoes , dry onions, tomatoes, green beans, as well as fruit crops represented in oranges, grapes, dates, bananas, during the period (2001 - 2010). The production figures has been presented including cultivated areas (in 1000 feddan), total production (metric tonnes) and land unit productivity (ton/feddan). The trade volume and values (exports - imports) for each crop was addressed. The virtual water (m3/tonne) and water footprint (m3/year) as well as the water import dependency has been calculated for each crop. The water unit productivity for each crop was figured out (kg/ m3) and Egypt water resources and utilization in agriculture production during the study period has been presented.
The results showed that the average cultivated areas as an annual average during 2001-2011 (in 1000 feddan) was for cereal crops as rice 1,491, wheat 2,784, maize 2,052 and soybeans 23. For the vegetable crops was it was 260 for potatoes, 96 Dry Onion, 58 Green beans and 502 tomatoes. The average fruit crops areas were orange 2,015, grapes 1,320, dates palms 1,224 and bananas 941. The total production data (1000 metric tons) showed: wheat 7,437, maize 6,712, rice 6,072, soybeans 30 and for vegetable crops it was for potatoes 2,758, Dry onions 1,316, green beans 260 and tomatoes 8,073. For fruit crops: oranges 2,015, grape 1,320, dates 1,224 and bananas 941. The average annual volume of virtual water trade in form of the selected crops during the study period (2001-2010) expressed in million m3 was 1,344 million m3 exports versus 13,068 million m3 from import and that the cereal crops exports represents 68% and imports representing 99.85%.
The average unit water productivity of crops expressed in kg/m3 during the period 2001-2010, showed that productivity was higher in vegetable crops, reaching 5.05 for tomatoes, potatoes 4.53, Dry onion 3.64 and 2.26 for green beans. Fruit crops came as the second in the water unit as Bananas 2.15, dates 2.12, and 2.03 for grapes. The cereal crops were the less productive, reaching 1.09 for wheat, 1 for maize, 0.81 for rice and 0.34 for soybeans. The total water footprint calculation for the crops during the period 2001-2010 showed , the average the total water footprint for all selected crops is 38,672 million m3 /year and the share of cereal crops 33,282 million m3 /year (86.06%), and the vegetables 2,532 million m3 /year (6, 55%) and fruit crops 2,858 million m3 /year (7.39%). With regard water import dependency, the highest percentage was of soybean crop, 95.96%, wheat 48.15%, maize 40.63%, potatoes 2.65% and the rest of the crops under study were less than 1%.
In light of the water footprint, water import dependency, water unit productivity for each crop, it is important to revisit the rice cultivated areas and its export policies which helps in the growth of maize cultivated areas. For both wheat and soybeans, foreign investment out country boarders may be the solution to ensure the continuity of their supplies to Egypt. For vegetable crops it has been found that there are export opportunities and achieve returned without affecting Egypt’s water resources for each of the potatoes, dry onions, green beans and tomato crops with more focus on reducing losses in yield and increase water unit productivity as stated in the ”sustainable agricultural development strategy towards 2030 to Egypt. As for fruit crops, the results indicated that the oranges, grapes, dates exports can continue with the same volumes without impact on the water resources of Egypt with some efforts to increase water unit productivity as well as increased unit area productivity. Although the total water footprint of crop bananas and the water import dependency was not high, but the internal water footprint volume are high compared to other fruit crops and then must reduce export until access to the increase in productivity per unit of water. Generally, the study showed the need to focus on increased water unit productivity and increase land unit productivity of with more efforts to promote the concept ”crop per DROP ”
Key Words:
Virtual Water; Water Footprint; Water Import Dependency; Sustainable development; Cereal Crops; Vegetables; Fruit Crops; Rice; Wheat; Maize; Soybean; Potato; Onion; Green Beans; Tomato; Orange; Grape; Dates; Banana