Three factors are mainly responsible for this:

Three factors are mainly
responsible for this:
• The high rate of urbanization: urban people in Egypt consume more meat
than the rural population.
• The remittances of Egyptians working in the Arab countries to their rela-
tives at home often lead to a rising standard of living among the latter
and especially to their consuming higher-quality food.
• Structural changes in the economy during recent decades have led to the
rise of a newly rich social class which has higher demands, not least con-
cerning food.

Today Egyptian agriculture planners unanimously wish to see the cultivation
area of bersim reduced in favour of that of wheat. But since farmers gain
about 52 per cent more if they cultivate bersim rather than wheat (Ministry
of Agriculture 1991: 553ff ), their plans must remain unrealistic. The interests
of the different groups differ greatly in one other point: Egyptian agronomists
would like to see a change from traditional animal husbandry to a more
rationalized fattening of the animals, as well as to specialized dairy farming.