Egypt plans to allocate 34.5 billion Egyptian pounds ($2.1 billion) for investments in its agriculture sector within the 2020/2021 financial year, up around 2 percent from the current year, Planning Minister said. The water and irrigation ministry's investments in the financial year 2020/2021 are estimated at 8.32 billion pounds, to be mostly provided form state coffers, Hala El Saeed added in a statement. The government is targeting an increase of 14.5 percent in agricultural production in the next fiscal year to reach 10.75 billion pounds, as opposed to 9.38 billion pounds this year, Ahram Online reported. Agriculture sector's share in the country's gross domestic product (GDP), meanwhile, is planned to rise 14.7 percent to 76.8 billion pounds, to make up 11.8 percent of GDP. Agricultural exports are also projected to rise by 5-10 percent to $2.7 billion, the minister added. Egypt's labour-intensive agriculture sector is a key provider of industrial inputs and a main source of job opportunities in rural areas, the minister added. In April, the Egyptian African Businessmen's Association (EABA) said Egypt's agricultural sector had not been affected by the coronavirus crisis, adding that Egypt had sufficient strategic food reserves expected to last for three months.
