Egypt has increased the total investments directed to the agriculture sector in FY2021/2022 by 72 percent to reach EGP 73.8 billion (representing 5.9 percent of the country’s total investments), up from the EGP 43 billion allocated in FY2020/2021, Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala El-Said announced on Monday.

El-Said also revealed that investments in the sector posted EGP 39.5 billion in FY2019/20.

This comes within the report prepared by the planning ministry on Egypt’s economic targets for the current FY2021/22, which is the fourth year of the government’s medium-term plan for sustainable development (FY2018/19 – FY2021/22).

The report said that the agriculture sector contributes to Egypt’s GDP with 15 percent, the workforce with 25 percent, and total commodity exports with 18 percent.

El-Said indicated that the medium-term plan targets increasing the agricultural production value by 9 percent to reach EGP 1.1 trillion (in current prices) in FY2021/22, as well as raising agricultural gross domestic production by 11 percent to record EGP 821 billion in the same FY.

The minister noted that the COVID-19 crisis has shown the great importance of the agriculture sector, particularly in meeting the citizens’ food needs without causing market bottlenecks.

It has also played a vital role in supporting Egypt’s trade balance through tapping export opportunities, which were provided amid the crisis, to enter new markets.