In MY 2019/20, FAS Cairo forecasts orange production to decrease by 20 percent, or 600,000 tons. The decrease in production is attributed to severe weather conditions, mainly strong winds and high temperatures at the peak of the flowering season during the third week of April 2019 thus impacting fruit set.
The Cairo experts are also revising the MY 2018/19 estimate upwards by 180,000 tons from the USDA official projection. This is attributed to higher yields on commercial farms.
In addition to adverse weather conditions, other production constraints exist in orchards in the Delta and Nile Valley such as:
- Many orchards are old, containing trees 50 years of age.
- Lack of proper implementation of a viable nutrition program.
- The use of flood irrigation methods that negatively impact production.
- Lack of an integrated management crop system to enhance quality.
Since 2016, there has been an ongoing effort by the government, private associations and growers to overcome these constraints by:
- Replacing old orchards and low productive ones with newer trees.
- Improving on-farm irrigation techniques that could double productivity and ration water use.
- Implementing proper nutrient management programs.
- Reducing post-harvest losses.
- Enhancing fruit quality and linking growers to international markets.
