With its population expected to reach 180 million by 2030, according to estimates by the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS), Egypt faces major challenges in water and food security.
The government is, therefore, taking action to increase the level of food security and overcome water scarcity. Egypt falls below the water poverty line of 500 cubic metres of water per capita a year.
One of the largest agricultural and industrial projects in the Middle East and Mediterranean region is the Future of Egypt. It was launched in 2017 in keeping with a presidential directive calling for increased agricultural production “to provide high-quality agricultural products at reasonable prices for citizens and to export the surplus abroad, to reduce imports, provide hard currency and achieve sustainable development goals,” according to the State Information Service website.
The area in question is situated to the west of the Delta, along the Road Al-Farag-Dabaa axis road which holds great promise for agriculture and food manufacturing because of the availability of diverse water resources, from Nile water and groundwater reservoirs to treated agricultural runoff water.
The Future of Egypt, which aims to reclaim 1.5 million feddans, is a major component of the New Delta project which the government unveiled three years ago. Another advantage of the area is that it is close to food manufacturing and processing zones and facilities as well as to the ports in Alexandria and elsewhere on the North Coast. Agricultural and manufactured food exports are an important source of hard currency, with the volume of exports topping nine million tons in 2023.
The government sees the Future of Egypt as the nucleus of a series of major reclamation projects to ensure food security for Egypt’s growing population for years to come. It has inspired replicating the experience in other promising areas west of the Nile Valley from Fayoum and Beni Sweif to Minya, Aswan, Dakhla and Owainat, with sights set on realising the dream of reclaiming 4.5 million feddans by 2027.
Cultivation under the Future of Egypt relies on diverse modes of irrigation, including pivot and drip irrigation. It also utilises greenhouses equipped with modern, water-conserving irrigation technologies. Agricultural research and development are a cornerstone of the project, as scientific research and experiments on seeds, fertilisers, and irrigation methods are crucial to attaining the aim of maximising the production of all crops.
Another crucial component is food processing, in which work is in progress on a giant manufacturing complex covering 1,000 acres and featuring a range of manufacturing plants established through partnerships with the domestic private sector and Arab and non-Arab foreign investors.
Animal feed, dried onions and garlic, fruit concentrates, frozen vegetables and fruits, semi-fried potatoes, sugar, glucose, and starches are among the many envisioned productions. In the first phase, some three million tons of raw produce will be put into producing 1.5 million tons of manufactured products.
The complex will more than double the output of the Qaha and Adfina state-owned food manufacturing complexes, which contain processing plants for juices, legumes, prepared meals, jams, sauces and processed meat.
The plan also expands grain storage through the construction of silos with a capacity of 600,000 tons and refrigerated and frozen food storage facilities with a capacity of 90,000 tons.
It will also expand livestock capacity from its current volume of 18,000 cattle, 11,000 cows and 4,500 sheep with the aim of achieving self-sufficiency in meat products.
In the New Delta region, designated for the country’s first green urban development projects, work has already begun on a comprehensive eco-system project, incorporating the principles of sustainable development, integrated recycling, zero-carbon emissions and climate action initiatives into the development of green communities in tandem and in symbiotic relationship with the expansion in agricultural and food industries.
The Future of Egypt’s land reclamation and development model will soon extend to Egypt’s border with Libya across from Libya’s Kufra district.
Agricultural feasibility studies have already been conducted on the soil and irrigation potentials in the area, in accordance with President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi’s directive to expand reclamation operations to all areas suitable for cultivation.
The southwest corner of Egypt in Al-Wadi Al-Gadid (New Valley) governorate is one such area, according to the Ministry of Agriculture which recently conducted a soil classification study that determined that the 600,000-acre area adjacent to Libya is cultivable, especially in light of its irrigation potential.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 13 June, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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