1. Egypt is a major exporter of crops.
Egypt has a population of 110 million, and it continues to soar, so why should it be exported?Could it be that Egypt's *** brain is in water?Don't you know that this is a helpless move by Egypt......
In fact, the grain production land does not account for the majority of Egypt's agricultural land, but all kinds of cash crops, and most of Egypt's already stretched land is not used to grow grain, but to produce various cash crops and use them for export.
Egypt is the fifth-largest exporter of raw potatoes in dollar terms. In 2019, Egypt exported a value of 2$59.6 billion in raw potatoes, accounting for 54％；When it comes to pre-made pickled potatoes, Egypt ranked 13th in terms of exports in 2019, valued at $31.1 million, or 03％。
Egypt is the world's largest exporter of oranges in terms of volume. In 2019, Egypt exported 1.8 million tons of oranges, worth 6$600 million.
Egypt is the world's second-largest producer of figs, with an annual production of 167622 tonnes.
Egypt ranks third in the world for exports of dried onions. In 2019, Egypt exported 136 tons of dried onions, worth $30.4 million, accounting for 81％。
Egypt produces more than 1.7 million tonnes of dates annually, accounting for 21 percent of global production. But due to a weak value chain from palm cultivation to packaging and distribution, Egypt does not rank high in the date palm export market. Despite this, Egypt's date exports increased from 380,000 tonnes increased to 160,000 tonnes in 2020, the average per tonne increased from $1,000 to $1,500, and the total revenue increased from $1$800 million increased to $4$500 million.
As well as the largest head of long-staple cotton, since the 70s of the 20th century, Egypt's most fertile Nile valley and delta began to mainly plant long-staple cotton, Egyptian long-staple cotton is world-famous, the output and export volume of long-staple cotton are the first in the world, and it is also the largest export of agricultural products, bringing great economic benefits to Egypt but also seriously squeezing Egypt's grain output.
However, the foreign exchange earned from the export of agricultural products can buy cheap food in large quantities from the international market, just enough to feed Egypt's growing population. However, it is impossible to earn foreign exchange from grain production alone.
The above argument illustrates a problem: the low rate of grain self-sufficiency does not mean that the grain production is low, let alone the upper limit of grain production, and the modern era is no longer the primary consideration of planting grain to fill the stomach, and the economic benefits are more importantEgypt's arable land is suitable for grain production and has the potential to become a granary
2. The current level of agriculture in Egypt is not the credit of modern water conservancy projects.
The contribution of modern Egyptian water conservancy projects is indeed significant, and for the first time, Egyptian farmers were able to irrigate their fields after the flood peaks ended, making it possible to harvest two or three crops in a year. With abundant irrigation water, the area of arable land in Egypt has also increased from 2.03 million fedans to 3.12 million fedans (1 fedans is about 6.).3 acres).
However, everything is most afraid of a proviso word, take the most famous and influential Aswan Dam as an example:
The Aswan Dam does have some positive effects on ecology and the environment。For example, before the dam was built, the vegetation along the banks of the river periodically withered as the seasons changed each yearAfter the completion of the reservoir, the area around the reservoir has become 5,300 to 7,800 square kilometers of perennial vegetation, which not only attracts many wildlife, but also helps to stabilize the lakeshore and maintain water and soil. However, just over two decades after the dam was built, the negative effects of the project gradually became apparent, and the dam's ecological and environmental damage became increasingly serious over time. These unforeseen consequences not only deteriorated the ecology and environment of the coastal basins, but also had a negative impact on the economic and social development of the whole country.
First of all, the dam project has caused a continuous decline in the soil fertility of arable land along the river basin. Prior to the dam's construction, agriculture in the lower Nile benefited from seasonal changes in the river's water, which flooded the farmland during the rainy season and periodically replenished the soil with fertile mud. However, after the dam was built, although irrigation could protect crops from drought through water diversion, the fertility of the land declined because the sediment was blocked upstream of the reservoir area and the land in the downstream irrigation area was not replenished with nutrients.
Second, soil salinization occurred along both banks of the Nile after the dam was built. Since the river no longer floods, there is no longer a large amount of river water to carry away the salt in the soil, and the continuous irrigation has raised the water table, bringing the salt in the deep soil to the surface, which, together with the salt in the irrigation water and various chemical residues, has led to soil salinization.
Third,The water quality of the Nile River in the reservoir area and downstream of the reservoir has deteriorated, and the health of the residents who rely on the river water as their source of life has been endangered. After the completion of the dam, the water quality and physical properties of the reservoir deteriorated significantly compared with the original Nile water. The massive evaporation of water in the reservoir area is an important reason for the deterioration of water quality. Another reason is that the decline in land fertility has forced farmers to use a large amount of chemical fertilizers, which flow back into the Nile with irrigation water, increasing the nitrogen and phosphorus content of the river water, leading to eutrophication of the river water, and the average density of plants and plankton in the downstream river water from 160 milligrams per liter to 250 milligrams per liter. In addition, soil salinization has led to a significant increase in salinity and chemical residues in the soil, which not only pollutes groundwater, but also increases the salinity of the Nile.
Fourth, the change in the nature of the river water has caused aquatic plants and algae to spread everywhere, not only evaporating a large amount of river water, but also blocking the river, etc. As the flow of the river is regulated, the turbidity of the river water decreases and the water quality changes, resulting in the proliferation of aquatic plants. Aquatic plants not only spread throughout irrigation channels, but also invade the main river channels. They impede the efficient operation of irrigation canals and require frequent mechanical or chemical cleaning, which in turn increases the maintenance costs of irrigation systems. At the same time, aquatic plants also transpire a lot of water According to the Egyptian Ministry of Irrigation, 40 percent of the irrigated water is lost each year due to transpiration of aquatic weeds.
Fifth, the lower reaches of the Nile have suffered severe erosion of the riverbed, and the coastline at the mouth of the Nile has receded. After the dam was completed, the sediment content of the downstream river water dropped sharply, the solid suspended solids in the water dropped from 1,600 ppm to 50 ppm, and the turbidity level dropped from 30 to 300 to 15 to 40 milligrams per liter. The decrease in the amount of sediment in the river water has led to erosion of the lower Nile riverbed. In the 20 years since the dam was built, the riverbed has eroded an average of 2 centimeters per year from Aswan to Cairo. It is expected that the Nile will continue to change, and it will take more than a century for a new stable course to form. The reduction of sediment content in the lower reaches of the river, combined with the erosion of sediment deposited in the Mediterranean Rim, has led to the continuous retreat of the coastline of the Nile Delta. A former Egyptian soldier said that the tower he had stood guard was now in the sea, one to two kilometers from its current shore.
In fact, it is not enough to discuss the ecological and environmental impact of dams, because the damage to the ecology and environment caused by dams turns into socio-economic damage to human beings.
For example, after the completion of the Aswan Dam, the decline in the fertility of the land on both sides of the Nile forced farmers to use large amounts of fertilizers, which greatly increased agricultural costs and reduced agricultural profits.
In 1982, a soil scientist estimated that declining soil fertility and the heavy use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides had reduced net agricultural income by 10 percent. As a result, although the annual output per unit of land area has increased due to the improvement of water conservancy conditions, the annual output per unit of land area has increased, and the input costs have increased even faster, resulting in a decline in farmers' net income.
Although ancient Egypt did not have the convenience of water conservancy, there was no water conservancy, so it is not believed that Egyptian agriculture was close to water conservancy.
To add that Egypt's food self-sufficiency rate should be 50 60 (which can be calculated by annual consumption and imports).