The first thing that struck me when I arrived in Egypt proper (as opposed to the Sinai), was just how lush and verdant it was. Throughout history Egypt has been the breadbasket of empires, and driving through the fertile delta region where blocks of flats squeeze together to leave as much field space as possible it's easy to believe. With this and the entire Nile Valley under cultivation since the Aswan Dam came into being, the contrast with much of the rest of the Middle East & North Africa couldn't be more marked.
Growing sugar in the Nile Valley
Perhaps that's why there's been such interest in a couple of sentences thrown into a report on malnutrition by The Economist:
Egypt’s agricultural value-added per person rose more than 20% in 1990-2007. Yet both malnutrition and obesity rose—an extremely unusual combination.
Some bloggers have been swift to see the not quite so invisible hand of capitalism slapping away. Certainly meat has been in increasing demand from the new Egyptian middle classes, with all the inefficiency of food use that implies. Egypt has also been switching increasingly from growing wheat to growing cash crops, and the traditional fellah tending his little patch of land has been displaced by increasing levels of agribusiness.
Egypt’s agricultural value-added per person rose more than 20% in 1990-2007. Yet both malnutrition and obesity rose—an extremely unusual combination.
Some bloggers have been swift to see the not quite so invisible hand of capitalism slapping away. Certainly meat has been in increasing demand from the new Egyptian middle classes, with all the inefficiency of food use that implies. Egypt has also been switching increasingly from growing wheat to growing cash crops, and the traditional fellah tending his little patch of land has been displaced by increasing levels of agribusiness.
RSS Feed
