Bangar El Sokar, Nubaria - The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) officially handed over a sun-dried tomato processing unit to the Marketing Cooperative for Fruits and Vegetables in Bangar EL Sokar, Nubaria. This activity is in the context of the project "Food Loss and Waste Reduction and Value Chain Development for Food Security in Egypt”. Attendees of this event included representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation (MALR), the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, Agriculture Research Centre and the Monitoring and Evaluation Unit for Loss and Waste in Agricultural Products.

Based on recommended solutions from the project baseline studies, market assessments and tomato loss analysis in Egypt, the project identified sun-dried tomatoes (SDT) as a simple and effective method to reduce loss and waste in tomatoes and to create local value addition in the agribusiness sector while exploring different marketing channels for tomato growers. The SDT unit is managed by the Marketing Cooperative for Fruits and Vegetables, in collaboration with local MALR authorities and FAO.

In addition to the advantage of reducing tomato losses in Nubaria, sun drying tomatoes helps control over production of tomatoes and reduce tomato price fluctuations by transforming tomatoes into a product that can be stored for up to two years. The SDT unit has helped create job opportunities especially for youth and women; reduce the cost of transportation; and gain experience in drying thus allowing the Cooperative to expand the business into similar crops such as pepper and eggplants. Finally, it helped open new markets for the cooperatives through the private sector who export the SDTs to European markets.

“Egypt is one of the world's largest producers of tomatoes; however, more than 50% of these tomatoes are being wasted during production, harvesting, retail and wholesale stages of the value chain, along with a significant loss in terms of quality. Therefore, the SDT unit is considered a technical solution which aims to reduce losses under the framework of the project "Food Loss and Waste Reduction and Value Chain Development for Food Security in Egypt and Tunisia" implemented by FAO and funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation,” said Hussein Gadain, FAO Representative in Egypt, during the ceremonial handover.

“This project in Egypt focuses on studying tomato and grapes value chains, analysing reasons behind food losses along the value chains and developing a food loss monitoring system.

Hundreds of farmers, agriculture extension engineers, traders and value chain operators have been trained on post-harvest handling and marketing. They have also been trained on studying the environmental impacts of food losses and the possible methods of recycling tomatoes waste,“ continued Hussein.

“The Italian cooperation strategy with Egypt accords high priority to supporting the agriculture sector and rural development, through financing a series of projects in line with the Egyptian government’s plans to develop this vital sector. Among these projects is the one in subject, which aims at reducing agricultural crop losses. We look forward to this SDT unit to be the core of introducing this new technology, aiming at reducing losses in major crops such as tomatoes and increasing its value. As a result, Egyptians farmers will receive a profitable income, thus improving their socio-economic conditions.” said Ismail El Faramawy, Senior Agricultural Expert, Italian Agency for Development Cooperation.

Two techniques for SDT processing were established in the Nubaria model:

1. Ground drying on a plastic cover

The main advantage of this system is the lower cost and the higher output since 70 - 80% of the total ground area is used for drying. The main disadvantages are the need for higher control to reduce biological and chemical contamination and the low efficiency of labour work.

2. Raisin drying on tables

In this system, long tables of plastic netting on iron supports were built to dry tomatoes in a position raised above the ground surface. This system is more costly as compared to the plastic cover system and only about 50% of the total ground area can be used. However, it has less risk of contamination, can yield a better quality product (improvement in color).

The project "Food Loss and Waste Reduction and Value Chain Development for Food Security in Egypt and Tunisia" is implemented by FAO in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, and funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation. It takes a value chain approach to reduce food loss and waste in order to improve the economic and environmental efficiency of food value chains. In Egypt, the project has been working with the tomato and grapes value chains in Nubaria, and tomato value chain in Sharqia. It has been successfully providing technical, infrastructural and marketing support to farmers' associations and stakeholders in these target value chains.