The Egyptian Farming Practices Technological Development and Its Determinants

Tendency toward application of advanced technology in farming practices has been accelerated in Egypt since the mid Seventies of the last century. Both domestic technology generation and foreign technology transfer were encouraged. High-quality cultivars, mechanized farming operations, and modern agricultural systems, such as protected agriculture and organic farming were strongly introduced. As such, this study tended to assess the Egyptian experience in farming modernization, areas of success, points of weakness and drawbacks, determinants and measures of improvement. Based on field data, the study revealed a generally low percent of modern techniques adoption, especially for costly innovations or integrated technological packages, dropping to nearly 2% of total farmers. Agricultural infrastructure unfavorable conditions withheld a great deal of the modernized practices benefits. Governmental support, both extensional and financial, is vitally required to enable expansion of convenient modern farming practices and maximize the benefits fulfilled. Although foreign technology transfer and domestic research have been accelerated since the mid seventies of the last century, modernization of the Egyptian farming practices is extremely slow. Capital shortage, poor extension, lack of coordination, conflicts and overlap among introduced techniques and dominant infrastructure problems are the main factors hindering development. The government should carry on with programs of agricultural infrastructure improvement and pay more coordination efforts to overcome farmers' confusion with respect to choice of the most appropriate technologies.