Oil crops in Egypt

Egypt suffers from a large deficit in the production of edible oil, where consumption is estimated at about 2,650 million tons, and local production is about 200 thousand tons, or about 8%, and what is imported is estimated at about 2,450 million tons, or 92% of our needs of edible oil

1. Self-sufficiency in the oil produced from cottonseed and that was until the mid-sixties approximately, which led to a lack of interest in other oil crops
2. Competition for the cultivated area between oil crops and other major crops of strategic importance such as corn, rice and wheat, etc.
3. The low profitability of some oil crops compared to some other crops
4. The lack of sufficient factories to extract oils from the seeds of some oil crops
5. Lack of agricultural information and guidance for the cultivation and care of many oil crops

First: Increasing the cultivated area of cotton with the development of varieties characterized by an increase in the proportion of oil in the seeds.
Second: Expanding the cultivation of some oil crops in the new lands (canola, soybean and sunflower) through the following:
1. Offering large areas of new reclaimed lands to grow these crops and establishing a huge industrial complex to extract and manufacture vegetable oils to serve this region. There must be a role for the state in regulating the contract between the investor and the farmer to ensure profitability for all parties, and this investment model (agricultural-industrial) can be repeated in other places. From the new reclamation areas.
2. The role of research institutes in producing varieties of these crops that are more adaptable to the new land conditions in terms of tolerating salinity and drought, with updating the package of agricultural recommendations to raise productivity as well as its presence
Activating the role of agricultural extension, which is entrusted with directing the farmer and investor to implement the package of recommendations for oil crops.