Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi called on the government to offer farmers additional incentives to encourage them to deliver the largest possible amount of wheat during this agricultural season.
Farmers will be offered additional incentives per ardeb (150 kilograms) of wheat delivered, Presidential Spokesman Bassam Rady said in a statement without specifying the value of the new incentives.
The president made the remarks in a meeting with a group of officials, including Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli, Minister of Agriculture El-Sayed El-Quseir, and Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Mohamed Abdel-Ati.
Despite the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, both major sources of wheat for Egypt, Egyptian officials have affirmed that the country’s current strategic wheat reserves are sufficient to cover the coming four months.
Stocks will also be sufficient for Egypt through the end of the year as farmers are set to begin delivering wheat when the local wheat supply season starts in mid-April.
Egypt has affirmed it is working on plans to diversify sources of wheat imports, includes buying wheat from countries outside Europe, such as the US, Argentina, Canada and Paraguay.
However, Egypt’s Minister of Supply and Internal Trade Ali Moselhi affirmed late in February that contracts to import wheat from Russia are still valid.
Egypt is set to receive a total amount of 189,000 tons of wheat from Russia, Ukraine and Romania in the coming days, a statement by the supply ministry said on Sunday.
The expected wheat shipments of 189,000 tons are distributed equally from the three countries, with an amount of 63,000 tons from each.
Egypt has already secured 126,000 tons of wheat last week, with 63,000 tons each from France and Romania, the ministry said.
Source: Al-Ahram Online
