*4.1. Discrepancy and Similarity between Governorates*

The discrepancy between the water profitability values calculated from the face-to-face forms and the bulletin is due to several reasons. Firstly, the bulletin data were published for the year 2019, which is based on 2018 estimates and numbers, while the forms were collected in 2020. This could affect water profitability through a multitude of ways, such as different market prices and the availability of production inputs and their prices. Moreover, the bulletin data were based on averages of market prices, yields, and experts' estimations of the production inputs and thus the return per feddan. On the contrary, the value of the estimates in this study are calculated from primary collected data from farmers, thus considering the different challenges farmers may face in acquiring certain production inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides.

The estimates of water profitability from the collected are forms are higher compared to the estimates by Hosni et al. in 2013 [23]. For Sharkia Governorate their estimates of water profitability for rice were 0.32 EGP/m<sup>3</sup> compared to our estimates of 0.56 EGP/m3. Sugar beet water profitability in their study was estimated at 1.68 EGP/m3 compared to our estimates of 2.98 EGP/m3 for the same governorate. It is also important to point out

that the estimates by Hosni et al. (ibid.) were calculated using the bulletin data and not from primary collected data from farmers.
