Licensed farms in Egypt jump from 145 in 2017 to 56K in 2020

CAIRO – 21 October 2020: In three years, the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation issued tens of thousands of licenses for cattle, pourtly, and dairy farms making the figure jump from 145 licensed farms in 2017 to almost 56,000 in 2020.

The licenses are also given to fee farms, horse farms, rabbit farms, and agricultural genetics farms.

Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation Al-Sayed al-Qusair stated Sunday that the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) approved putting Egypt on a list of countries having facilities free of bird flu.

The minister clarified that the organization's decision is based on the efforts deployed by Egypt to resume pourtly exportation, which was suspended amid the outbreak of bird flu in 2006. As such, 14 Egyptian companies will be able to export chicks aged 1 day, table eggs, breeding eggs, and breeding birds.

The files of the 14 facilities have been communicated with eight large international pourtly companies.

The facilities free of bird flu are located in the desert zones of Isamiliyah's Sarabium, Beheira's Wadi Al-Natroun, and Menya's Western Cairo-Asyut Road. Those facilities have been accredited after applying to be part of the system, and after meeting the requirements.

The minister pointed out that Egypt had achieved self-sufficiency of pourtly and table eggs, and that the sector has many promising investments embodied in mega projects founded in desert lands.

The ministry has been cooperating with breeders in the Nile Valley and Delta to switch from the open production system to the closed production system.

In a similar context, Qusair underlined that export is permitted after the local needs are fulfilled.

Deputy Minister Mostafa al-Sayad said that the accreditation of Egyptian pourtly companies as free of bird flu will encourage investments in the sector. The official revealed that the ministry prepared an investment map encompassing nine zones that can house such facilities.

Sayad noted that pourtly projects are included in the initiative of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) offering - through banks - soft loans with 5-percent interest rate. Worth LE 100 billion, the initiative is directed at the manufacturing, agricultural, and real estate sectors.