Egypt ranks 1st in fish farming in Africa: Minister

CAIRO - 24 February 2022: Egypt has great experience and successful experiences in the field of livestock and fisheries, as it ranks first in fish farming in Africa, sixth in the world and third in tilapia production worldwide, Minister of Agriculture El-Sayed El-Quseir stated Thursday.

 

Quseir added that Egypt has giant projects in fisheries and marine hatcheries.

 

This came during a meeting between the Egyptian Minister of Agriculture and the Tanzanian Minister of Livestock and Fisheries, Mashimba Ndaki, to discuss prospects for cooperation between the two brotherly countries.

 

During the meeting, Quseir welcomed the Tanzanian minister, stressing the existence of directives from President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, President of the Republic, to provide all aspects of support to the African brothers, pointing to the status of the ministry's capabilities to serve agriculture in Tanzania.

 

He pointed out that it is possible to benefit from the Egyptian experiences in the fields of fish farming in the sea and freshwater, whether in the closed cages system or the basin system, as well as an opportunity for cooperation in the field of the fishing fleet and boats, as well as fish diseases, as Egypt has come a long way in this technical field of expertise. .

 

The Egyptian Minister added that it is possible to cooperate with Tanzania in the production of vaccines, veterinary convoys, as well as training, capacity building, exports, and the establishment of joint farms, especially that Egypt owns a farm for plant production in Zanzibar.

 

He  pointed to the importance of activating the memorandum of understanding that was signed between the two countries in 2018 in the field of crops, animal and fish production, genetic improvement and other various agricultural fields.

 

The Minister of Agriculture also affirmed cooperation in the field of applied research, as Egypt owns a group of distinguished research institutes and centers in addition to the Institute of Marine Sciences and Fisheries and a college specialized in fisheries, stressing the possibility of cooperation in the field of feed industry.

 

For his part, Mashimba Ndaki expressed his country's aspiration to advance cooperation with Egypt, especially in the field of livestock, serums and veterinary vaccines, as Tanzania occupies the second place in Africa in the number of livestock and owns about 34 million head of livestock.

 

He added that during his visit to Cairo, he made several field tours, during which he inspected some of the major projects that Egypt witnessed in the field of livestock and fisheries.

 

Ndaki also expressed his aspiration to cooperate in the field of agricultural scientific research, welcoming the Egyptian private sector to invest in Tanzania.

 

At the end of the meeting, the two ministers agreed to form a joint technical committee from both sides to follow up on the implementation of what was agreed upon and to remove any obstacles to cooperation that achieves the interest of the two brotherly peoples.