The impact of policies related to confronting the water gap on Egyptian agricultural exports

Abstract

Egyptian agricultural exports are considered one of the most important sources of national income and contribute about 15% to the total Egyptian merchandise exports. Agricultural production operations for export are linked to many other economic activities, as Egyptian agricultural exports are often characterized by the fact that their commodity structure depends on exporting the raw agricultural commodities that are Water intensive consumption, and the countries receiving agricultural exports are concentrated in European and Arab countries. In light of the growing water problems and its crises, the agricultural export process has taken on new dimensions, represented by preserving the water resource as one of the most important agricultural resources, while at the same time continuing to benefit from the returns achieved from agricultural exports. In light of the growing concept of virtual water and taking into account the amount of water used in agricultural production for export, water footprint indicators for exports have emerged as one of the most important new concepts that are taken into account when formulating policies related to export, whether they are production policies or related to irrigation or linked to the export of goods that are water intensive consumption.