Shipment of 42,720 chicks arrives in Egypt worth LE 90M

CAIRO – 13 August 2017: As part of the poultry farming project implemented by Wadi Holdings S.A.E., a shipment of 42,740 chicks imported from England arrived in Aswan’s airport on Sunday. The project takes place in Toshki at New Valley governorate at a cost of LE 890 million ($50 million).

Wadi Holding is a group of 12 companies working in poultry integration, desert land reclamation, food processing and commodity trading. The group’s CEO Toni Freiji told the press that they selected Toshki as a location for such as a giant project for its clean climate, and because the desert is clear of all diseases common in Delta.

Freiji stated that the project’s vision is reaching high consumption areas, and fighting avian flu by making poultry projects away from the areas, where it is common for the disease to be found because of breeders who do not adopt safety measures, and do not consider the preventive aspect.

The project would also enable the control of epidemic diseases transmitted from poultry to humans, creating jobs in Upper Egypt, taking benefit of its resources, and fulfilling its market needs.

The project comprises two phases. Each one of these encompasses eight sections with five rooms each.

The first phase, which started in October 2016 and was constructed on 2,000 feddans, is almost completed by the advent of the chicks which had cost LE 90 million. Other sections within that phase are being finalized.

The second phase will be larger, taking place on 3,000 feddans (1 feddan = 1,025 acres) and will be finished in five years. Thereby, the entire project would be fully completed with a total of four million hens, and 90 million chicks creating 1260 jobs.
The Deputy Agriculture Minister Mona Mehrez told press that the project is aligned with the state’s strategy of building farms and abattoirs in border areas to promote exports. The project is close to Aswan, which can be a gate to Africa through Sudan.

That is in parallel to developing current farms and abattoirs in other governorates. The ministry’s plan has been focusing on expanding poultry farming in order to decrease red meat consumption, which is less healthy and less eco-friendly.

Mehrez added that the ministry succeeded in establishing a chain of laboratories accredited by international organizations in various governorates in order to train and provide certificates to those working in the poultry domain.