August 20, 2019

11:00 pm to 1:00 pm

Location: Conrad Hotel, Nile Courniche

The IFPRI-Egypt Seminar Series is part of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded project called “Evaluating Impact and Building Capacity” (EIBC) that is implemented by IFPRI. The seminar supports USAID’s Agribusiness for Rural Development and Increasing Incomes (ARDII) project’s objectives.

“Fertilizer policy in Egypt and options for improvements”

The slides and videos of this seminar are posted next to the speakers below

A summary blog of this seminar can be found here

The government of Egypt has made significant steps in moving from general subsidies to more targeted support for the people, for example in the area of energy subsidies and social protection. In agriculture, there is also potentially room for supporting farmers in a more effective and efficient way. So far, nitrogen fertilizer is subsidized through subsidized energy and is distributed to farmers through local agricultural cooperatives.

However, there is reason to think that this policy may not be necessary to increase agricultural production in the Egyptian context. Reported levels of nitrogen fertilizer use are in excess of the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation’s (MALR) recommendations while phosphate fertilizer levels are lower than recommended.  Meanwhile, the provision of subsidized fertilizer is costly and can distort the market, leading to shortages and uncertainties of fertilizer quality among farmers.

This seminar explored evidence that the fertilizer subsidies may not have the intended positive effects for farmers, the environmental implications of fertilizer over-use, and possible solutions to improve the current system.