Economic Study to Develop the Value-Added Chain of Date Palm Crop and Raise Its Efficiency

The aim of this research is to study the value chain of the date palm crop in Egypt as an important horticultural crop at both the domestic and external market levels, to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the current chain, and to develop proposals for developing the chain to develop and modernize the marketing system for this crop, especially for small and medium-sized agricultural producers. In addition to assessing the method of linear programming (transport model) of the date palm crop between the governorates of the Republic, the research was based on published and unpublished secondary data during the period 2010 to 2019. One of the most significant results of the research is that the area under cultivation in date palm is taking on a general, increasing trend, with an annual increase of 8% from an average area of 94.97 thousand acres. It was found that the average area under cultivation is about 119,311 thousand acres, with the average area of wet (fresh), half dry, and dry varieties being around 71,876, 43,898, 3,536 thousand acres representing about 60.24%, 36,79%, and 2,96% of the total area under cultivation during 2010-2019. Loss in date palm has also been shown to be a statistically increasing overall trend, with an estimated annual increase of 10.09% of the average loss of 289,000 tons. Results also indicate that the value of the apparent comparative advantage factor increased above the one true in the study years. The export efficiency of date palm also ranged from a minimum of about 207.8% in 2014, indicating that the export price of date is higher than that of the domestic market, and a maximum of about 1276.4% in 2019, meaning that the export price per ton is about 7.8% higher than the wholesale price. The research, therefore, recommends that attention be paid to the quality of local production of date, the solution of productive problems, the cultivation and replacement of new varieties in place of old ones, and work to solve problems related to the marketing.