Egypt is planning to allocate EGP 34.5 billion for investments in the country’s agriculture sector in the coming 2020/2021 fiscal year beginning in July, up around 2 percent from the current year, Planning Minister Hala El Saeed said in a statement on Sunday.

The water and irrigation ministry’s investments in FY2020/2021 are estimated at EGP 8.32 billion, to be mostly provided form state coffers, El Said added.

The government is targeting an increase of 14.5 percent in agricultural production in the next fiscal year to reach EGP 10.75 billion, as opposed to EGP 9.38 billion this year.

Agriculture sector’s share in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), meanwhile, is planned to rise 14.7 percent to EGP 76.8 billion, to make up 11.8 percent of GDP.

Agricultural exports are also projected to rise by 5-10 percent to $2.7 billion, the minister added.

Egypt’s labour-intensive agriculture sector is a key provider of industrial inputs and a main source of job opportunities in rural areas, the minister added.

In April, the Egyptian African Businessmen’s Association (EABA) said Egypt’s agricultural sector had not been affected by the coronavirus crisis, adding that Egypt had sufficient strategic food reserves expected to last for three months.


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