Egypt will lease at least 200,000 acres of farmland this year for agri-business projects in North Sinai, the North Coast and Upper Egypt, the agriculture minister said on Wednesday. "We have allocated about 90,000 acres of land in North Sinai, between 50,000 and 70,000 acres in Wadi Natroon (on the North Coast), and 60,000 to 70,000 acres in Minya (Upper Egypt)," Agriculture Minister Amin Abaza told Reuters on the sidelines of a business conference in Cairo. The most populous Arab country said in April it would offer about 100,000 acres for agri-business in North Sinai on a 49-year lease but only to domestic investors. Under the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, land on the Sinai peninsula cannot be sold to foreigners. The land will be offered as a concession right and will be used for agricultural reclamation and agricultural manufacturing projects, Abaza said. "We are also offering six zones for poultry production to double our capacity," he added. Egypt said in February it planned to lease farmland for agri-business projects during 2010 but was waiting for the agriculture ministry to allocate suitable plots. The Industrial Development Authority (IDA) said last year Egypt would start up its agri-industrial zones project in June 2009. It said Egypt could raise as much as LE 66 billion ($11.58 billion) by 2020 through the scheme.
