
File Photo: local sugar beet. Al-Ahram
The announcement was made by Minister of Supply and Internal Trade Ali Moselhi during a meeting on Wednesday that included Hesham El-Hossary, head of the agricultural committee at the House of Representatives, and chairpersons of the boards of directors of sugar beet companies.
The meeting discussed the necessary measures to support farmers and set "lucrative" prices for the supply of the sugar beet crop for the current season.
To the new increases will be added both the already approved exceptional incentive bonuses for this season and all other incentives previously agreed upon related to crop quality, according to the statement.
To make up for the shortage in sugar cane, Egypt cultivated 620,000 feddans of sugar beets this year – adding 10,000 new feddans compared to 2022 – and targets to produce 1.8 million tons of sugar from beets.
The country has also raised the price of local procurement of other crops, like wheat, as part of its efforts to expand homegrown crops and decrease reliance on crop imports amid soaring prices.
On Wednesday, El-Sisi said that the government will announce a minimum price for purchasing five crops from farmers, including wheat, corn, soybeans, sunflower, rice, sugar cane and beets.
The president said that this means that if global prices for these crops increased, the government will raise the purchasing prices.
Currently, Egypt is working on increasing its agricultural land through a land reclamation program aiming to cover approximately 3.5 million feddans, El-Sisi said on Wednesday.
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