Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi on Sunday called a meeting to review the progress of some agricultural development project, with the agriculture minister noting in a briefing to the president that Egyptian agricultural exports have registered an increase by 14 per cent over last year’s volume.
Egyptian agricultural exports, Minister el-Qusair highlighted in the briefing to the president, now include some 350 different products being exported to more than 150 countries across the world, adding that Egypt ranks the world’s top exporter of citrus, Presidency Spokesman Bassam Radi said.
Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli, Agriculture Minister el-Sayyed el-Qusair and Deputy of Agriculture Minister for Livestock, Fish and Poultry Affairs Moustafa el-Sayyed attended the meeting that the president called to follow up on the progress of action to implement a number of Agriculture Ministry projects.
Special reference was made during the meeting to export-oriented agricultural projects, livestock and fish wealth development programmes and the upgrading of dairy collection points, Spokesman Radi said.
The Covid-19 pandemic, Minister Qusair remarked in the presentation he made during the meeting, has proven that the Egyptian agricultural production sector enjoys noticeable viability and flexibility as so reflected in Egypt becoming one of the world’s few countries whose agricultural production has remained unaffected by coronavirus outbreak.
On other aspects of agricultural development activities, President Sisi urged expanding the growing of dairy and meat-intensive breeds in light of their economic return on breeders and farmers.
In this connection, the president urged that plans to increase the breeding of dairy and meat-intensive livestock proceed in complementation with the state’s efforts to develop Egyptian countryside villages as part of the Hayah Karima (Decent Life) initiative.
President Sisi also directed the Agriculture Ministry to seek the development of its assets of gardens and parks, especially those located within Greater Cairo, such as the Zoological Gardens and Orman Gardens in partnership with established foreign expertise in this field, especially regarding management and operation. Action in this direction, President Sisi told the meeting, should aim at optimising the utilisation of such assets and elevating them in a way that matches similar world utilities.
During the meeting, the president followed up on a number of projects of the Ministry of Agriculture, especially those related to Egyptian agricultural exports, the development of livestock and fisheries and milk collection centres.
The Agriculture Minister then outlined the new system for automation and coding of farms nationwide with the aim of drawing up a detailed digital map of export farms nationwide. The projected map, he added, can provide a complete database using the latest means, including raising the coordinates of farms using GPS techniques and the formulation of technical recommendations for good crop cultivation practices.
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