Bani Sweif/Minya, Egypt - The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, in cooperation with the Center for Environment and Development for the Arab Region and Europe (CEDARE), organized four workshops under the title “Documenting climate-smart value chains for a number of crops in Upper Egypt” in Bani Sweif and Minya governorates. The workshops addressed climate-smart value chains for crops, medicinal and aromatic plants, tomatoes, peppers and sugarcane.

These workshops come within the framework of the project “Enhancing crop and livestock production and productivity in new lands by adopting innovative climate-smart agricultural practices and technologies,” which is funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) through the Sustainable Agricultural Investments and Livelihoods Improvement (SAIL) project of the Ministry of Agriculture and land reclamation.

During the opening session of the workshop, Mr. Tony Ettel delivered a speech on behalf of Mr. Nasredin Haj El-Amin, the Representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization in Egypt, stressing the keen interest that FAO attaches to this workshop as one of a series of meetings aimed at documenting smart food chains, climate change for some selected crops in Upper Egypt, and proving the economic feasibility of adopting sustainable transformation policies in food production chains.

“The importance of working to improve opportunities to manage agricultural waste resulting from agriculture and recycling it into industrial production opportunities” said Mr. Mahmoud Al-Basiouni, Executive Director of the Food Industries Chamber at the Federation of Egyptian Industries. He also pointed to the disruption of supply chains during the coronavirus period and the Russian-Ukrainian war and its impact on the industrial sector.

“The necessity of having a map of agricultural products that helps exporters more easily reach the producers of those products with the specifications required for export, in addition to the current prices of the agricultural products and the importance of having farmers obtain a fair price for the agricultural product, is to be seriously considered due to Germany’s issuance of a law in this regard”, said Engineer Mai Khairy, Executive Director of the Food Industries Export Council.

Mr. Ashraf El-Sharqawi the Major General and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Union of Horticultural Crops Producers and Exporters, pointed out the importance of studying the strong competition from China and India in the global market in the field of medicinal and aromatic plants and the need to improve post-harvest transactions and manufacturing capabilities in this field.

Engineer Ahmed Al-Badri, Deputy Executive Director of the Agricultural Crops Export Council, also pointed out the importance of strengthening communication between exporters and farmers, stressing that climate-smart agriculture has become a global requirement, as the European Union announced the European Green Deal, which aims to make the European Union the first climate-neutral continent.

In light of this, there are goals related to reducing pesticides by 50 percent and reducing fertilizers by 20 percent by 2030. Therefore, there is no way for Egypt’s agricultural exports but to adapt to the climate change and reduce fertilizers, pesticides, and emissions.