Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation El Sayyed El Quseir underlined the importance of consolidation of international efforts to boost cooperation to achieve food security and provide basic needs for the peoples, noting that food security is closely related to the national security.

The minister’s remarks were made during his participation in the second day of “Egypt – International Cooperation Forum (ICF): Engaging for Impact” held on 8-9 September, under the patronage of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi.

He highlighted the greetings of President Sisi to Egyptian farmers on the 69th anniversary of the Farmers’ Day, noting that the political leadership is deeply interested in enhancing the status of farmers as well as achieving high production and agricultural development.

He said that agriculture is one of the key sectors that proved to be of optimum importance amid the coronavirus pandemic, noting that agricultural growth had a big added value to the economic status and development plans of any country.

The minister said Egypt’s agricultural sector secures 17 percent of the Egyptian exports, a matter which could contribute to achieving the sustainable development objectives, noting that Cairo has adopted a policy of support to the Egyptian farmers, improving their living conditions as well as encouraging the diversity of the agricultural production.

He also said Africa has a diversity of climate conditions and types of soil, a matter which could help in achieving diversity of production and its types. The minister also pressed the need for digitizing all agriculture-related data in order to overcome the challenges of water shortage and the limited area of agricultural lands.

The minister also shed light on Egypt’s recent policy to handle the problem of water scarcity through opting for various solutions, including sea water desalination as well as recycling drainage water.

Source: State Information Service Egypt