It is reported by ahramonline.

A research paper on «Risks of Decline in Sugarcane Cultivation in Upper Egypt» by the Ra Centre for Strategic Studies, a think tank, warned against the Ministry of Agriculture’s inclination towards expanding beet cultivation at the expense of sugarcane.

This shift has implications for the market and for the various industries associated with these crops, the report said.

In 2023, beets contributed to the production of 1.8 million tonnes of sugar, compared to one million tonnes from sugarcane, it added.

Ministry of Supply Spokesman Ahmed Kamal said in December that Egypt’s sugar consumption had reached 3.2 million tonnes, indicating a deficit of 400,000 to 500,000 tonnes last year.

The research paper compared cane and beet sugar from an economic perspective and came down in favour of sugarcane. One feddan (0,42 ha) of sugarcane yields twice the production of a feddan of beets, it said. Sugarcane also requires less effort and consumes less energy to refine, it added.  

Additionally, while beet waste can be recycled as animal feed, sugarcane waste is a valuable resource for various direct and indirect industries. Companies involved in sugarcane refining, such as the Integrated Sugar Industries Company, often own factories that produce particleboard, pulp paper, and newsprint.

According to the Sugar Crops Export Council in December, the area cultivated with beets in Egypt decreased from 594,000 feddans (249 480 ha) to 560,000 feddans (235 200 ha). The area cultivated with sugarcane decreased from 350,000 feddans (147 000 ha) to 300,000 feddans (126 000 ha) or less over the past four years.

A source at the Ministry of Agriculture and the Supreme Council for Sugar Crops said there had been a previous inclination to decrease the area cultivated with sugarcane due to its high water consumption. One feddan of sugarcane consumes 12,000 cubic metres of water annually, while beets consume half this amount.

He added that this inclination has changed due to the adoption of modern techniques of sugarcane cultivation that decrease the amount of water used in irrigation.

Ayman Hosni, director of the Sugar Crops Research Institute, said the Ministry of Agriculture is focusing on vertically expanding sugarcane production through a project that depends on the cultivation of cane using seedlings rather than seeds, thereby reducing water consumption by 50 per cent per feddan annually.

The Ministry of Agriculture now has one of the region’s largest facilities in this field. This produces 115 million cane seedlings annually, Hosni said. Experiments are also being conducted in areas such as Toshka and Wadi Al-Naqra to expand sugarcane cultivation horizontally.

Hosni believes it is unlikely there will be competition between the two crops in sugar production since they are cultivated in different geographical areas. Beets are primarily cultivated from the North Coast to northern Minya, while sugarcane is grown from southern Minya to Aswan.

Over recent years, farmers have favoured beet cultivation over sugarcane due to the former’s lower production costs, which are about 50 per cent less than those of sugarcane, Hosni said.

In the previous season, cultivating a feddan of sugarcane cost LE26,000 (USD544), whereas a feddan of beets cost no more than LE14,000 (USD293). Moreover, the price at which farmers sell a ton of beets to the government (the procurement rate) was LE1,500 (USD31,38) compared to LE2,000 (USD41,84) for sugarcane.

But the Ministry of Agriculture will not eliminate sugarcane cultivation, given its pivotal role in supporting 33 industries, including the production of paper, honey, yeast, alcohol, organic acids, vinegar, plastics, and animal feed, Hosni noted.

Increasing the sugarcane procurement rate is not the solution to the shortage, Hosni suggested. Instead, the focus should be on enhancing productivity per feddan at an economically viable cost. This will entail adopting modern irrigation techniques and using seedlings.

With the expected growth in population, Egypt will not reach self-sufficiency in sugar production, but it can decrease its deficit, Hosni said.

Egypt is the world’s second-largest sugar consumer, with individual consumption reaching 34 kg annually, compared to three kg per person in Europe.