ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF SUGARCANE AND SUGAR BEET IN EGYPT

Abstract

Sugarcane and sugar beet are the sources of sugar in Egypt. Upper Egypt’s economy is heavily dependent on sugarcane production. Disruptions to the area planted with sugarcane would impact the livelihood of many families that live directly on it’s farming, plus a plethora of ancillary business built around sugar production. The study aims to analyze the production, area and yield of sugarcane and sugar beet in Egypt. The study used the regression as a statistical technique that shows the relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable. The mean of sugarcane production for the time period 1994-2016 was 15532.49 thousand ton while for the sugar beet production was 4987.03 thousand ton. The mean of sugarcane area is 133.54 thousand hectare and for sugar beet area is 99.60 thousand hectare. The results indicated that the area of sugarcane in Egypt is significant at the level of 1%, the regression coefficient of this variable equal 0.944 this result indicates that 1 percent increase in the area of sugarcane resulted in an increase in the sugarcane production by 0.922. The area of sugar beet in Egypt is significant at the level of 1%, the regression coefficient of this variable equal 1.073 this result indicates that 1 percent increase in the area of sugar beet resulted in an increase in the sugar beet production by 1.073. The study recommends improving the technology and procedures of work to produce sugar beet seeds in Egypt; increase the research with the purpose of taking advantage of genetic improvements, which should enable the introduction of new varieties with higher productivity and quality; government policy should encourage and incentive the farmers in different governorates to produce the most efficient crop in their governorates.