CAIRO- Fears mount that global warmingwill force even more Egyptians to sink beneath the poverty line.According to family welfare and agricultural experts, global warming will reduce Egypt's imports of vital crops from foreign markets. Taking into consideration the weak purchasing power of the Egyptian pound and the small wages employees earn here, many families will go hungry, because they won't be able to afford buying food. The fears for local consumers have increased, as reliable reports have ruled out dim hopes that locally grown crops could help reduce the imports of basic commodities and simultaneously control the price of staple commodities, such as wheat and beans. The dramatic failure of the agricultural sector was highlighted when the Earth Centre for Human Rights disclosed that no fewer than 70,000 fertile acres in Egypt are scooped up every year to make way for high-rises. Meanwhile, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warns that water scarcity will be the rule within years in different regions, including Egypt. Agricultural experts indicate that the agricultural crisis and the shortage of basic commodities could be alleviated if research centres and faculties of agriculture nationwide paid special attention to growing new species capable of withstanding global warming. According to studies made by reliable centres and agencies, cotton in Egypt is grown on 1.5 million acres, wheat on 1.5 million cares, clover on 2 million acres, maize on 2 million acres and rice on 1.5 million. These areas have increased, as the consumption has increased, due to a growing population. In 1961, the cultivated area in Egypt was 5.605 million acres. Forty-seven years later, this had increased by just over 50 per cent to 8.432 million in 2004. In the meantime, the population has at least doubled since 1980. According to Al-Wafd opposition newspaper, the agricultural sector should do its best to reclaim more land and grow new kinds of wheat, beans and maize, which should be sold more cheaply as productivity increases. Quoting veteran agricultural experts, Al-Wafd said that annual wheat yields need to increase from 3 million tonnes to 3.5 million. The experts regret that the land on which beans (something indispensable for in the local diet) are grown in Egypt has fallen by 215,000 acres, with the State struggling to import enough beans to satisfy the local demand. “If the supply of wheat and beans from foreign markets declines as a result of global warming, these two crops will become extremely expensive,” warns an agricultural expert, speaking on condition of anonymity.
