Agriculture Min., EAEA delegation discuss prospects of cooperation

CAIRO - 14 April 2018: Agriculture and Land Reclamation Minister Abdel Mon'em el Bana underscored Saturday that there are a large number of peaceful applications and uses of the atomic energy, especially in the agricultural, irrigation and medical fields.

Egypt has come a long way to cope with the latest progress achieved in this domain over the past few years, the minister pointed out.

The minister made the remarks during his meeting with Chairman of the Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority (EAEA) Atef Abdel Fattah, the head of the African department at the EAEA along with the director of the African division at the organization to discuss cooperation opportunities. The meeting was held at the ministry's headquarters.

Bana stressed the vital role of the peaceful applications of the atomic energy in terms of using them to serve the society and achieve sustainable development, highlighting the importance that cooperation between both sides would cover the sectors of food and agriculture.

The minister pointed out that cooperation could include fields of water desalination so that water could be used for agriculture purposes, noting that such techniques could be also used in determining the groundwater zones, a move that would contribute to increasing opportunities of land reclamation.

He also said that the atomic energy techniques can be used to eliminate avian flu and treat many plant diseases, adding that training opportunities would be offered for researchers and agricultural engineers to qualify them to use such techniques