Egypt's agricultural exports sector is expected to continue its increasing trend over the next years following exporting 5m tonnes in the first half of the current fiscal year 2018/19, Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation (MALC), Ezz El-Din Abu Steit, said. It comes during his participation at the conference that was organised by the Institute of National Planning, on Saturday, entitled ‘Promoting Sustainable Agriculture,' adding that the government is keen on boosting the Egyptian products' competitiveness. "Our sustainable agriculture development strategy includes several pillars, yet the first one is to boost the quality of lives for the rural areas' population," he stressed, affirming the importance of food security efforts especially that there is a huge increase of the population growth which requires the continuation of modernising production methods. The ministry accomplished major successful projects over the past period including the 1.5m feddan reclamation project with very high technological agriculture processes. The agriculture sector witnessed three different strategies over the past years, he noted, adding that the key challenges that face Egypt's agriculture sector since the openness policy are the Egyptian pound flotation, as well as the danger of unsustainable water supplies. The minister called for foreign investors to boost their investments in the agriculture sector, affirming that climate change requires new ways of agriculture.
