تقييم الزراعة التعاقدية لمحصول البنجر بمحافظة الدقهلية

الملخص EN

Agricultural Development Strategy 2030 aims to pay attention to the contract farming system for the development of Egyptian agriculture.

The objectives of contract farming are to increase the income levels of farmers, especially small farmers, by setting a fair price for the product and working to reduce marketing margins.

The contract farming system for sugar crops is one of the most important successful models in Egyptian agriculture, and the beet crop was chosen as a case study for the implementation of the contract farming system.

The research problem is the limited application of the contract farming system in Egyptian agricultural crops, which necessitates studying the opinions of contract farmers in the contract farming system for the beet crop.

The main objective of the research is to evaluation contract farming system for agricultural crops through a case study on beet crop to identify the most important strengths and weaknesses in the application of this system.

Dakahlia Governorate was chosen to represent the sample due to the concentration of beet production, in addition to the presence of the Dakahlia Sugar Industry and Refining Company in Belqas.

From the results of the research it was found that there was an increase in area, total production, and the amount of sugar produced, yield of sugar.

The sugar beet crop contributed to the increase in total sugar produced in Egypt, and this increase may be attributed to the adoption of the contract farming system.

It was found that the sugar beet crop has one marketing path, which is to transfer the crop from the fields to the factories directly, with about 99.8% in 2020.

By identifying the most important actors along the value chain from the beginning of production until it reaches the final consumer, it was found that it includes five stages represented in the input stage, which is the pre-production stage, and the second stage is represented in cultivation and harvesting by farmers, while the third stage is concerned with receiving and transporting The crop to the factory, and the fourth stage is the manufacture of sugar and other secondary products, while the fifth and final stage is concerned with distributing sugar and by-products to their final market destination.

From the study of the value chain, it becomes clear the importance of contract farming system in decreasing marketing margins and increasing the share of the product, thus increasing production and stability in agriculture, increasing job opportunities, and integrating different sectors such as agriculture, industry and trade, which results in increasing value added.

Using the five-point Likert scale, it was found that about 69% of the sample farmers agreed to continue with the contract farming system for the beet crop, where the general arithmetic mean of the sample was estimated at about 3.34, with a standard deviation of 0.33, and it was found that there were significant differences between farmers’ response at 1%, also it was found that about 31% of the sample farmers had reservations about agreeing to continue the contract farming system.

In addition, the research using SWOT analysis, to identified the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that faced contract farming.

From the results of the value chain study and SWOT analysis, it was clear that strategic planning for continuation in contract farming system depends on, firstly: the availability of data and information on the crop before planting, secondly: developing alternative plans for price changes to reduce the risks, thirdly: increasing the awareness of contracting farmers, fourthly: Supporting the investments needed to use modern technology to increase production, fifthly: increasing the maximum production capacity of sugar factories to increase the number of contracting farmers.

Recommendations: - 1.

Applying the contract farming system to all agricultural crops by setting a fair price for crops to increase the number of contracting farmers, availability of data and information related to the crop before planting, providing and supporting production requirements with high productivity, and increasing the awareness of contracting farmers to comply with the technical recommendations.

2.

Increasing the maximum production capacity of factories to increase the number of contracting farmers.

3.

Activating the role of agricultural cooperative societies in the application of contract farming.