Current and Prospective Status of Production of the Most Prominent of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants in Egypt "واقع ومستقبل إنتاج أهم النباتات الطبية والعطرية في مصر"

Abstract

Medicinal and aromatic plants are unconventional crops, which are considered to be an integrated economic project, Egypt is one of the countries that have the potential for expansion in this field, The study aimed to analyze the current situation and future prospects for the production of the most important medicinal and aromatic plants in Egypt during the period 2008-2018 and its future expectations until 2025. In achieving its objectives, the study relied on descriptive and inferential analytical economic methods, through the use of trend analysis, exponential smoothing prediction models, as well as the use of some productivity and economic indicators, in addition to regression analysis to estimate the production function of the most important medicinal and aromatic plants, in addition, to using well-known statistical tests to verify the validity of the estimated models. In achieving its objectives, the study relied mainly on secondary data issued by official authorities, including the Economic Affairs Sector of the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, and in particular the Agricultural Statistics Bulletin.The thesis included four main chapters, where the first chapter dealt with the preface of the study, which includes the introduction, the problem of the study, the objectives of the study, the importance and justification of the study, the study methodology, data sources, the scope, and limits of the study, in addition to, the economic importance of medicinal and aromatic plants, and the second chapter was devoted to previous studies.The third chapter is devoted to the productive and economic features of the most important medicinal and aromatic plants in Egypt, by studying the development of their production parameters and indicators during the period 2008-2018 and their future expectations until 2025, in addition to analyzing the geographical distribution and regional differentiation for the production of the most important medicinal and aromatic plants in Egypt during the average period 2016-2017. The results showed that the area of winter medicinal and aromatic plants was about 60.96 thousand feddans, with an estimated production of about 184.554 thousand tons during the period 2008-2018 by about 9 cultivated species, geranium, cumin, anise, mint, coriander, caraway, fennel, marjoram, and chamomile. The annual growth rate of the cultivated area of caraway, geranium, and chamomile during the same period was about 10.5%, 8%, and 3.8%, respectively. The annual growth rate of feddan productivity of cumin, chamomile, and anise crops during the study period was about 1.7%, 0.9%, and 0.03%, respectively. The annual growth rate of the feddan net yield of the anise crop was about 8.3%.By studying the geographical distribution and regional differentiation of geranium, cumin, anise, mint, coriander, caraway, fennel, marjoram, and chamomile. It was found that the most important governorates planted with the geranium crop are 6 governorates. The governorate of Beni Suef ranks first in terms of the cultivated ...