Egypt aims to reach 70 percent wheat self-sufficiency by 2030, with current production approaching 10 million tonnes this season. An EU-backed project is helping to cut harvest losses through mechanisation and training for farmers.
Agriculture and Land Reclamation Minister Alaa Farouk announced the target at a mechanised harvest event in Beheira governorate. He noted that cultivated wheat areas expanded by 600,000 feddans to 3.7 million feddans this year and described wheat production as a matter of national security.
The announcement formed part of the EU-funded Good Agricultural Practices project, known as KAFIEU, which is implemented with the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation. The initiative supplies modern machinery to reduce losses that can reach 20 to 30 percent and provides training to 400,000 farmers across five Nile Delta governorates.
A pilot field using certified seeds and updated practices yielded 24 ardebs per feddan. Officials also distributed 44 maize shellers to smallholder farmers during a visit to a mechanised station in Damanhour. Upgrades to seed processing facilities in Sakha, Gemmeiza, Sids and Shandweel are also under way.