The productive and economic efficiency of some crops grown organically and traditionally in Egypt

The area planted with organic crops in the world reached about 188.7 million acres, while the area planted with organic crops in Africa was about 6.7 million acres. In Egypt, the area of organic farming reached approximately 286,520 acres in 2021. The research aimed to estimate the productive and economic efficiency of some crops cultivated organically and traditionally in Egypt, as well as to understand the impact of organic and traditional farming on some cost items for these crops. The research relied on field data from a purposive sample of 200 units during the agricultural season of 2024/2025, from the governorates of Beheira and Fayoum. The investment efficiency measures compared between both methods showed that the organic farming method used for producing crops (green beans, potatoes, chamomile, fennel) achieved a profitability ratio for variable costs of approximately 97.8%, 483%, 470.3%, and 206.2% respectively, compared to 13.1%, 248%, 208.9%, and 55.6% for traditional farming of the same crops in order.The main recommendations, the most important of which are: the necessity of expanding the application of organic farming methods in various agricultural crops to increase productivity, both in quantity and quality, and to achieve the best return; as well as encouraging the use of organic production techniques and inputs in new lands, and the necessity of providing organic and biological fertilizers in the markets at the right time and at acceptable prices within the reach of farmers, which leads to a reduction in production costs .