Area cultivated with cotton in Egypt grows by 39%

CAIRO – 28 June 2022: The Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation announced Tuesday that the area cultivated with cotton rose this season by 93,000 feddans (one feddan equals 4,500 square meters) to become 330,000 feddans.

That is a 39-percent increase as the surface area in the past season was 237,000 feddans. The ministry noted that more of the crop could be grown but the ministry has set a maximum to achieve balance between supply and demand so that the prices would not drop drastically.

The ministry pointed out that the Cotton Research Institute constantly works on improving cotton seeds to attain a better quality. The statement also indicated that cotton is currently being grown in reclaimed lands, and not just in the Nile Valley and Delta, in Toshki, East Owainat, New Delta, and desert areas lying in Sinai, Port Said, and Ismailiyah.  

In 2021, the area cultivated with cotton grew by 30 percent as it was as small as 182,000 feddans in 2020.

Chairman of the Cotton Research Institute Hisham Mosaad said that Egypt has been able to produce colored cotton whose degree of fiber strength is 40 exceeding the world's average, which is 20.

Mosaad elaborated that the colors of colored cotton in Egypt are green and gold noting that cotton worldwide used to be colored but a mutation occurred turning the specie into white.

The official explained that the fiber of colored cotton is typically weaker than that of white cotton; however, Egypt succeeded to enhance the hereditary characteristics of its colored cotton reaching almost the maximum strength.

Mosaad had stated earlier that the institute has a plan that focuses on improving cotton farms, and that in 2019, it assisted farmers to adopt the best cultivation practices. Those include water efficiency, and limited use of fertilizers and pesticides.

In 2020, The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) executed by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in partnership with the Egyptian Cotton Research Institute, Modern Nile Cotton, and Almatex went into effect.

The initiative is under the framework of The Egyptian Cotton Project aimed at improving its quality and marketing, and its pilot was launched in February 2019.

The BCI is designed "to support the Egyptian Cotton branding as part of a renewed drive to increase product sustainability, improve working conditions along the supply chain, and support cotton growers and relevant institutions," as indicated on UNIDO's website. The initiative consists of capacity-building efforts, and environment-friendly practices.