EFFECTS OF EGYPTIAN ECONOMIC-REFORMS - THE HORTICULTURAL SECTOR

The objective of this paper is to analyze the impacts of the economic policy reforms on the Egyptian horticultural sector, Data were collect ed over a 5-year period before major economic reforms (1981-85) and ov er the latest 5-year period since the reforms (1990-94), Data include cultivated area, yield, production, consumption, imports, and exports for the most important Egyptian fruit and vegetable crops. Production and net exports of fruit and vegetable crops have increased which corr espond with the objectives of the policy reforms. Both market reforms and land reclamation have spurred growth in the Egyptian horticultural sector. Market reforms have greatly affected exports and have shifted the allocation of land to higher value crops, Specifically, the refor ms have shifted land from field crops to horticultural crops and shift ed land to the production of tomatoes and potatoes, Land reclamation h as vastly increased the fruit area harvested and this has greatly infl uenced the Egyptian fruit crops. For vegetable crops, the large increa ses in yields appear to be attributable to an increase in the number o f larger, more technologically advanced farms in the new lands. (C) 19 98 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.