An Analytical Study of the Impact of Agricultural Policies on the Cotton Crop in Egypt (Field Study in Beni Suef Governorate)

The cotton crop is considered one of the economics crops that contribute to financing the state's development plans. Despite the importance of the cotton crop, it suffered from distorted price policies, which resulted in a decrease in its area by about 49.06% during the period (2005-2022). Consequently, total production decreased by about 149.4%, so the research aimed to study the impact of agricultural policy in general and price policy in particular on cotton crop production. It also aimed to identify the most important problems facing crop farmers. The research reached many results, including: a higher growth rate in production costs, which was estimated at about 13.1% than the growth rate in farm prices, which amounted to about 12.4%. Which led to a decrease in the growth rate in the net return compared to the total costs, reaching 11%, especially with the fluctuation of acreage productivity around its arithmetic average during the study period. The average quantity of cotton exports during the period (2005-2022) reached about 74.55 thousand tons, with an estimated value of about 160.32 million dollars. The results also showed that cotton farmers suffer from many problems, including the lack of a guarantee price that protects the product from the impact of price distortions. The results of the statistical analysis of the policy analysis matrix showed a decrease in support directed to production requirements, which amounted to 7%. Farmers also bear implicit taxes and subsidies to the consumer estimated at about 55.8% of the revenue based on international prices. The study of Egyptian cotton markets also showed that there is no competitive advantage for the price of Egyptian cotton within these markets. Based on these results, the research reached several recommendations, including: the necessity of announcing a guarantee price. rewarding for the farmer, Guidance greater support for production requirements, working to study foreign markets and their export requirements to develop marketing and export plans to avoid transforming those markets into other markets competing with Egyptian cotton.