Ensuring Food Security in Egypt: Food Subsidy, Income Generation and Market Reform

Conference to be held in Cairo May 25-26, 1999

On May 25 and 26, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) will present its results of the completed 3-year policy research study of Egypt's food security system at a conference in Cairo titled, Ensuring Food Security in Egypt: Food Subsidy, Income Generation and Market Reform. IFPRI conducted the study at the request of the Egyptian Ministries of Agriculture and Land Reclamation and Trade and Supply.

The conference will provide policymakers with empirically based findings from national household, community, and wheat market surveys. The surveys were designed to help the Egyptian government make informed policy choices in food security and evaluate its national food subsidy, employment, and marketing systems that protect its vulnerable households.

In Egypt, 26.5 percent of the population are considered to be poor. In order to meet its food security needs, the Egyptian government has maintained a costly food subsidy program that dates back to World War II. But who are the vulnerable in Egypt and how secure and cost effective are their sources of food?

"One of the most important outcomes of this conference will be to outline policy options to improve the targeting and cost effectiveness of food security and marketing programs," said Lawrence Haddad, project Director and head of the Food Consumption and Nutrition Division at IFPRI. "We have worked closely with our Egyptian collaborators to produce a set of options that are economically and politically feasible in the light of Egypt's unique and often tumultuous history with food subsidy reform."

For more information, please e-mail B.Torres or write to B.Torres, Food Consumption and Nutrition Division, IFPRI, 2033 K Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006-1002, USA.