The Ministry of Agriculture has developed a national program to increase the cultivation of forage crops and to reduce the use of bread as animal feed. The program aims to increase the production of sorghum from 840,000 to 1.4 million tons, to double the production of barley to 400,000 tons a year, and to cut by half the amount of grain wasted during storage. Adel al-Beltagui, head of the Supreme Council for Agricultural Research and Development, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the area and productivity of land used to grow legumes has increased. The area of land used to grow beans has reached 75 percent and the area of land growing green fodder has increased from 2.75 to 3.3 million feddans, with a corresponding increase in productivity of 15-20 percent. Al-Beltagui said the council has prepared a new set of standards for both wheat trade and bread production, which it has submitted to Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif for approval. Ayman Fareed Abu Hadeed, head of the Agricultural Research Center, said the council's new strategy has created mechanisms to overcome the negative impact of climate change on agriculture. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
