Egypt and Food Security

As the worls's largest importer of wheat, Egypt is acutely vulnerable to any surge in food prices. Wheat prices have risen 47% over the last year and other staples are rapidly approaching dangerously high levels. Food price inflation and volatility strike hard at the household budgets of average Egyptian families. Many of them spend 40% of their monthly income on food. Ensuring Egyptians have access to a reliable and affordable food supply ia an urgent priority.
Food prices are at record levels partly due to population growth and increased demand from a recovering global economy, tight supplies, high oil prices, and weak agricultural production attributable to climate change-induced natural disasters and crop loss in key producing nations. But the most striking aspect of this latest surge in food prices is the destabilizing role of a relatively new and powerful factor confronting the world's food system: uncertainty. Our changing climate is feeding this uncertainty. Food price volatility and uncertainty are further triggered by shortsighted government and private-sector actions. Any effort to stabilize food prices in Egypt must be led by Egyptians to identify and meet local needs.
Rapid population growth, widespread poverty, massive unemployment among the two-thirds of Egyptians under 30 that form part of the youth bulge, and spiraling inflation all make it difficult for families to keep pace with rising food costs. Egypt has spent $4 billion a year on its bread-subsidization program in an attempt to insulate the 40 % of Egyptians living on less than $2 a day from inflation. And yet prices continue to rise.
Climate change's impact on world agriculture is projected to be severe. Egypt is a profound risk to the negative effects of climate change, including rising temperatures, prolonged drought, increased evaporation and water consumption. Egypt is also vulnerable to rising sea levels leading to more intense flooding, the loss of key agricultural land in the Nile Delta, and the mass migration of 8 million people from rural to urban areas.
In the face of looming water shortages due to increased demand and the effects of climate change, Egypt must also address water-management issues associated with the Nile and reengage with its Nile Basin neighboring countries regarding the future of this shared regional resource.