Egypt targets to increase wheat cultivation by 1.5 M feddan over 3 years

CAIRO – 29 March 2022: Egypt is targeting to increase the area of the wheat crops by 1.5 million feddans over the next three years in accordance with a new study conducted by the Egyptian Cabinet's Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC).

 

 Egypt needs about 18 million tons of wheat annually, with local productivity of 10 million tons of wheat. So, it has been gravely affected by the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict as it gets 80 percent of exported wheat from both conflicting countries.

 

Obstacles to wheat cultivation in Egypt boil down to the problem of pests, the lack of fertilizers, the increase in the land salinity, and climate change impacts, officials at the Ministry of Agriculture told Sout Al-Omma newspaper on Monday.

 

The government is working to remove these obstacles with multiple, the official added.

 

Egypt seeks to collect up to 6 million tons of local wheat from farmers this season, which starts in April, Minister of Supply Ali Moselhi said on Monday in the third meeting for the national committee to face the Ukraine crisis’s impact on strategic goods.

 

During the meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Moselhi said the Ministry of Supply has secured more than 400 points to receive local wheat this year, affirming that there are enough strategic capacities to receive this quantity of local wheat.

 

Egypt’s Cabinet earlier announced setting the additional incentives ordered earlier by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to encourage farmers to hand their local wheat to the state at LE 65 per ardeb.

 

As per the directives, the price of wheat ardeb, which is equal to 150 kilograms, will be LE 865, 875, and 885 for wheat with purity percentages of 22.5, 23, and 23.5 respectively.

 

Egypt has already raised the price of ardeb from LE 710 to nearly LE 810 last year to encourage farmers to supply local wheat.