FAO in Egypt
The FAO Representation to the Arab Republic of Egypt opened in 1978. Over the past years, the Organization has participated in a large range of agricultural and rural development activities targeting Egypt’s specific needs. FAO’s support includes strategy, policy and institutional development, promotion of good agricultural practices and South-South Cooperation. The Organization has also taken the lead in supporting investments agriculture.
FAO’s policy support FAO over the past 4 years supported the Government of Egypt in updating the following strategies:
- Sustainable Agricultural Development Strategy towards (SADS) 2030. This strategy serves as a reference for all UN and donor agencies’ agricultural interventions in Egypt. The government updated the strategy with technical support from FAO. Related to this is the Forest Policy Framework, which was formulated by MALR with FAO assistance and which led to the development of the Tree and Forest Management Law.
- Enhancing biosecurity governance to support sustainable aquaculture production in Egypt. This project aimed at supporting the sustainable development of aquaculture through a National Strategy on Aquatic Animal Health (NSAAH), developed according to the Progressive Management Pathway to improve aquaculture biosecurity. The project enhance capacities of competent authorities, farmers and other stakeholders in support of responsible aquaculture production and contributed to the reduction of biosecurity shocks and risks.
- Policy Formulation and Sectoral Agriculture Disaster Risk Reduction Action Plan for Egypt. The FAO team in Egypt facilitated the development of the Action Plan under the leadership of MALR.
FAO’s technical support
In terms of the agriculture sector, FAO will support all six strategic objectives of the SADS-2030, namely: (1) Enhance food security and nutrition; (2) Promote sustainable agriculture; (3) Eradicate poverty in rural areas and improve income and living standards; (4) Adapt to climate change and mitigate its impacts; (5) Increase the competitiveness of agricultural products; (6) 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.