Strategic Priorities of Egypt in the Field of Agriculture and Rural Development to transform its Agri-food Systems
The CPF is derived from the priority areas, outcomes and outputs of the UNSDCF while supporting the Government of Egypt in achieving its developmental and climate change objectives, as aligned with national sectoral strategies, action plans, platforms and presidential initiatives such as the: Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS): Egypt Vision 2030; National Water Resources Plan, 2017-2037; Egypt National Climate Change Strategy-2050 and First Updated Nationally Determined Contributions (2022); National Food and Nutrition Strategy (2022-2030); Egypt National Action Plan for Antimicrobial Resistance (2018-2022); Egypt’s Country Platform for the Nexus of Water, Food and Energy (NWFE) Programme (2022); National Strategy for the Empowerment of Egyptian Women, 2030; National Strategic Framework for One Health 2023 – 2027 and the Haya Karima Initiative (Decent Life – Sustainable Rural Communities), 2019-2030.
In terms of the agriculture sector, FAO will support all six strategic objectives of the SADS-2030, namely:
Enhance food security and nutrition; Promote sustainable agriculture; Eradicate poverty in rural areas and improve income and living standards; Adapt to climate change and mitigate its impacts; Increase the competitiveness of agricultural products; Creation of job opportunities for employment, especially for women and youth; plus cross-cutting programmes for institutional reform, agricultural policy reform and agriculture research, technology transfer and agricultural extension.
FAO will also support the Government of Egypt with the co-ordination and programming of the country’s food systems transformation (as follow-up to the Food Summit (2021) and strengthening the governance of Egyptian food control and phytosanitary systems – both strategic priorities not directly captured by UNSDCF outcome indicators but inclusive to the context of Outcomes 1 and 3 and important to the Organization’s normative and standard-setting work in the country.
CPF Priorities and Intended Development Results
The CPF results are guided by FAO’s Strategic Framework for 2022-2031 that places the 2030 Agenda at its centre by using SDGs and their indicators to promote focus and track progress. Guided by the lens of SDG 1 (No poverty), SDG 2 (No hunger), and SDG 10 (Reduced inequalities), FAO’s contributions to agrifood systems’ transformation span across all SDGs organised along the Organization’s four Betters (aspirations), i.e. Better Production (BP), Better Nutrition (BN), Better Environment (BE) and Better Life (BL). FAO’s country programmes draw upon the 20 Programme Priority Areas (PPAs) under the four Betters, to leverage needed technical expertise in the context of Regional Priorities defined by the Organization’s Regional Conferences (in this case, the Regional Conference for the Near East and North Africa, January and February 2022).
Improved capacities of food systems’ actors for transformation, programming and co-ordination.
FAO will support the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation (MoALR), Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) and other Egyptian food system actors to develop and implement an action plan for national pathways for successful food systems transformation in Egypt while strengthening the resilience and sustainability of food systems to socio-economic and environmental stresses through effective governance and co-ordination mechanisms and improved multi-risk understanding and evidence-based food security and nutrition programming.
Improved Egyptian food control and phytosanitary systems’ alignment with international standards and related competencies.
The governance of Egyptian food control and phytosanitary systems is improved and aligned with international standards, ensuring fair practices in food trade and consumers` access to safe food through integrated, multi-sectoral food safety policies and legislation across national agri-food systems adopted and implemented by the Governments, and capacities and awareness of value chain operators and consumers is enhanced.
Income generating enterprises established and supported to sustainably employ under/unemployed rural men and women and female and male youth and reduce food losses.
FAO will support the establishment and develop the capacity of homestead, farm and group-based micro and small agri-food enterprises (i.e. crops, livestock, fisheries and aquaculture-based products) to sustainably generate income, create employment and comply with the requirements of and improve their access to domestic and international markets, inclusive of improved quality control and food safety measures – particularly targeting rural women and youth – including capacity strengthening of umbrella community organisations and rural business support service providers.
Enhanced capacity of national and sub-national value chain actors within selected agri-food systems through the development of effective public-private partnerships (PPCPs).
FAO will increase the capacity of national and subnational-level crops’, livestock, fisheries’ and aquaculture value chain actors to analyse, design and implement plans on inclusive and efficient and sustainable agricultural production and management systems that reduce food loss and food waste and improve the nutrition and income of rural households, the quality and safety of the country’s domestic food supplies and the competitiveness of its exports, including the development of efficient and effective PPCPs, equitable participation in produce marketing and improved market transparency.
Research and development (R&D), investment programming and multi-agency partnerships supported to transform selected agri-food systems.
FAO will provide support to public and private sector agricultural research institutes and partnership agencies for the innovation, R&D, digitalisation and inclusive investment programming in the agricultural sector (particularly for CSA, irrigation modernisation, SFM and PHM/food loss control) – including South-South Co-operation (SSC) between Egypt and other African countries and support to the Egyptian International Center of Agriculture (EICA) at the Agricultural Foreign Relations Department (AFRD) at the MoALR and National Water Research Centre (NWRC) at the MoWRI. Ongoing R&D activities supported by FAO include the propagation and promotion of local seeds and hybrids varieties and improvement of cropping practices and water efficiency in sugar cane with proposals for the adaptation of wheat cropping systems in New Lands, digitalisation of technology transfer and market intelligence, early warning system for weather risk management and social protection in the agriculture sector under review.
Smallholder farmers adopting CSA technologies and practices and GAP principles for food security, carbon farming and rural development.
adoption and scaling up of sustainable innovative and improved nature-based CSA technologies and practices and GAP principles by men and women smallholder producers in order to strengthen their livelihoods and food security and restore their natural resources, enhance carbon storage and reduce greenhouse gas emissions across different agri-food systems – with a focus on cereal and horticultural crops, sugar cane and dairy, beef and poultry production. This will be achieved through group-based participatory approaches such as on-farm adaptive research and demonstration and the mobilisation and implementation of farmer field schools (FFSs) in support of, for example, agricultural co-operatives, farmers’ associations, CDAs and rural women’s groups.
Smallholder farmers adopting modern irrigation techniques to improve water productivity, food security and livelihoods.
FAO will promote the adoption and scaling up of sustainable modern irrigation technologies and climate-smart water management (CSWM) practices by men and women smallholder farmers to increase their water efficiency/productivity while improving their crop production and food security and restoring/protecting water resources. Again, this will be achieved through the mobilisation and implementation of FFSs in support of, for example, WUAs, agricultural co-operatives, farmers’ associations and CDAs.
The capacity of concerned institutions strengthened to develop policies for the promotion of agricultural climate change adaptation and mitigation, irrigation modernisation and on-farm biodiversity enhancement.
FAO will strengthen the institutional capacities of government agencies and other key stakeholders to participate in the further development of Egypt’s National Adaptation Plan (2015) and translate the updated Nationally-Determined Contribution (2022) – both cornerstones of the ‘Egypt National Climate Change Strategy-2050’ – into actionable and transformative climate solutions in land-use and agriculture with multi-stakeholder engagement.
The capacity of fisheries and aquaculture stakeholders strengthened to sustainably improve the livelihoods and food security of fishing communities and increase opportunities for fish exports.
FAO will strengthen the institutional capacity of the Lakes and Fish Resources Protection and Development Agency (LFRPDA) and other key stakeholders, including the Fisheries and Aquaculture Co-operation Union and its Societies and the private sector, to promote sustainable capture fisheries and aquaculture technologies and practices to improve the breeding, feeding, rearing, harvesting and marketing of aquatic plants and animals and increase the overall production and productivity of Egyptian fisheries and aquaculture – specifically targeting small-scale fish farmers and their lakes’, riverine, ponds’ and coastal communities.
Improved sharing of epidemiological and laboratory information within and across sectors to anticipate, prevent, detect and respond to animal and zoonotic diseases outbreak and anti-microbial resistance (AMR).
FAO will strengthen the capacity of concerned agencies/organisations to prepare, detect, prevent, respond and assess measures that reduce risks of transboundary animal diseases (TADs), zoonotic diseases, emerging and re-emerging animal diseases and AMR.
Enhancing the capacity of transboundary plant disease and pest management through integrated pest management (IPM) approaches.
FAO will strengthen the capacities of concerned agencies/organisations to prepare, assess and respond to measures that prevent or mitigate the risks of transboundary plant disease and pests and reduce crop losses through the implementation of IPM strategies, action plans and extension programmes, including the conservation of natural enemies and use of environmental approaches.
Smallholder farmers, pastoralists and fishers adopting strategies that enhance the biodiversity of farmland, wetland and coastal ecosystems.
FAO will promote and support smallholder men and women farmers and their rural communities to adopt and scale up sustainable diversification, restoration and protection strategies and practices for the most important degraded agro-ecosystems with the aim of enhancing the biodiversity of farmlands, rangelands, wetlands and coastlines – while maximising the utilisation of indigenous and local knowledge.
13. MSEs established and supported to sustainably valorise commercially viable food and agricultural waste.
FAO will promote the processing, utilisation and marketing of agricultural waste (e.g. rice and wheat straw, commercially sub-standard dates and date palm leaves and animal waste) for compost, animal feed, green energy sources (e.g. biogas), commercially viable food products and furniture making through the establishment of homestead and group-based MSEs for value addition, income generation and employment creation (focusing on smallholder producers and un/underemployed rural women and youth).