تكلفة الفرصة البديلة للمحاصيل غير التقليدية في إنتاج بدائل السكر بالأراضي الصحراوية : دراسة حالة لمحصول الإستفيا

الملخص EN

There is a gap between sugar production and consumption estimated at 910.2 thousand tons of sugar, representing the average period of study (2007-2018), which is imported from abroad.

Although «Stevia» is considered to be an essential complement to fill the sugar gap in Egypt, according to the research conducted by the Sugar Crops Research Institute, it has been possible to localize the plant in Egypt since 1995 and achieve the highest productivity in the world, whether in leaves or sugary materials.

Nevertheless, the plant has not been paid attention to expand its cultivation so far.

The sugar food gap in the last three years (2018-2016) was estimated at 1027 thousand tons.

Besides, about 456 thousand tons were imported, with a foreign exchange value estimated at 341.7 thousand dollars.

Throughout the economic feasibility of cultivating an acre of Stevia for 10 years, the project is considered economically acceptable if the result is greater than one integer.

While the project is considered economically rejected, if the result is less than one and the cost-benefit ratio is estimated at 1.3, indicating the investment feasibility in this project according to this Standard.

By calculating the internal rate of return as a standard for judging the project acceptance; for which the internal rate of return is equal to or greater than the opportunity cost, the internal rate of return amounted to 23 %.

This considers higher than the opportunity cost available for investment in Egyptian banks in 2018; represented by the highest interest rate estimated at 15%.

These results confirm the project safety and feasibility.

Furthermore, economic returns have been estimated through substituting Stevia Sugar for Egyptian imports of sugar and the consequent savings in foreign exchange.

Taking into account that the rate of extracting Stevia powdered sugar from 1 ton of paper, which is the average production of one Stevia acre, is about 8%, or about 80 kilos of powdered sugar.

In this regard, sweetness degree of Stevia is equivalent to 200 times sweetness of cane sugar at a minimum.

Thus, 80 kg of Stevia sugar is equivalent to 16 tons of cane sugar.

If such a scenario is applied generally to the amount of sugar imports, which are estimated at 456 thousand tons, i.e.

equivalent to 28.5 tons of Stevia sugar, this means that 28.5 thousand acres of Stevia sugar could cover the imports of cane sugar, at a rate of savings estimated at about 342 thousand dollars.

Among the research recommendations are Stevia cultivation expansion as well as establishing factories for extracting powdered sugar.