Analytical economic study of rice supply response in Egypt

<p>Recent studies have identified several challenges associated with rice production, which hinder the achievement of self-sufficiency in rice. As a crop that heavily relies on irrigation water, rice production has implications for the nation’s water security. Nevertheless, there is still hope for reducing the future food gap by implementing agricultural policies that encourage farmers to increase production. Therefore, it has become essential to understand the responsiveness of rice cultivation area supply to changes, as this is crucial for making decisions regarding agricultural policies related to production and farm prices during the period from 2010 to 2023. The aim is to estimate farmers’ responsiveness, and the time required to achieve this response, as well as the supply elasticity. To achieve the research objective, both descriptive and quantitative statistical analysis were used, applying the Stepwise method in its logarithmic form to estimate the Supply Response. The elasticity of supply response for the rice cultivation area was estimated to be approximately 1.86% in the short term and 2.09% in the long term. It was also found that the response time of the cultivated rice area supply in Egypt to changes is low, estimated at around 1.12. This may be due to the inability to expand the cultivated area of this crop in the following year, as rice cultivation requires large amounts of water, posing a challenge given the scarcity of water resources. Additionally, farmers aim to maximize profits from the crops they cultivate.<strong><em></em></strong></p>