According to this article:
Egypt produces half of the 20 million tons of wheat that it consumes with irrigation and imports the other half.
Basically, Egypt’s population has ballooned so much that the advances in farming technology has not been able to keep up with the food demand.
For reference, Egypt produces 9 million tons of wheat per year with a population of 102.3 million, while Ukraine produces 33 million tons with a population of 44.13 million.
For Egypt, the areas that can be used to produce wheat are the areas close to the Nile only, while Ukraine is full of rivers pretty much everywhere so almost the entirety of its land can be used to farm wheat.
Egypt during bronze age had pretty advanced farming technology for its time which allowed it to surpass other countries. Now that Ukraine is using the same tech Egypt is using, the difference is the amount of land that can sustain farming, which Ukraine has a lot more of.
Yes, basically this. Nothing out of ordinary happened, you can’t increase food production indefinitely with the same amount of land.
Also worth noting is that the “Egypt agriculture degenerated” is a racist take, because after it there is inevitably either clear or unspoken blaming Arabs for this “degeneration”. Sometimes as cherry on top you can also find white pharaohs myth nearby.
Also worth noting is that the “Egypt agriculture degenerated” is a racist take
I’m confused, did you mean to insinuate that I made this claim? I just said Egyptian technology was very advanced during bronze age. I didn’t say it “degenerated”.
No, you didn’t, but “what happened to Egypt agriculture” is very often asked just before the main dish. So it’s good you don’t intend to go further than that.
