Egypt plans to localize silk industry at the hands of rural women

CAIRO – 9 May 2024: Minister of Social Solidarity Nevine al-Qabaj and Minister of Local Development Hisham Amena discussed Wednesday a plan to localize the silk industry in Upper Egypt.

As a start, the former's ministry distributed 500 carpet looms on women. The next step is collaborating with the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation to plant berry trees and raise silkworms as the goal is producing 100 tons of silk per annum. It is noted that 5,500 silkworms are needed to produce one kilogram of raw silk.

The Ministry of Local Development indicated in a January report that the funding programme targeted at micro enterprises – dubbed Mashrouak - had financed 10,269 businesses with LE2.7 billion, creating 149,000 jobs in 2023, and that the goal for 2024 is providing funds worth LE4 billion.

Further, the ministry's Local Development Fund provided soft loans worth LE28 million to 1,955 businesses, creating 2,500 jobs. Others worth LE35 million will be disbursed in 2024 to 2,000 enterprises.

The ministry also screened 1,460 industrial and investment plots nationwide to determine unoccupied land plots, attracting 664 investors to exploit 1,177 of those spanning on a total surface area of 5,233,502 square meters.