Egypt aims to boost its wheat self-sufficiency to 70% by 2030 as domestic production nears 10 million tonnes this season, bolstered by an EU-backed mechanisation initiative targeting 400,000 farmers to heavily reduce harvest losses, Agriculture and Land Reclamation Minister Alaa Farouk announced.
Speaking at a mechanised harvest event in the Beheira governorate, Farouk stated that cultivated wheat areas increased by 600,000 feddans to 3.7 million feddans this year. He emphasised that the state views wheat production as a matter of national security.
The event was part of the EU-funded Good Agricultural Practices (KAFIEU) project, implemented with the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), which aims to support and develop cereal production in Egypt.
Farouk highlighted that introducing modern harvesting machinery is critical to reducing crop losses—which can reach 20% to 30%—while simultaneously lowering operational costs. He noted that a pilot field applying these modern practices, alongside certified seeds and technical recommendations, successfully yielded 24 ardebs per feddan.
The harvest event was attended by Beheira Governor Jacqueline Azer, EU Ambassador to Egypt Angelina Eichhorst, and the head of the AICS Cairo office, Tibor Czieri. During a subsequent tour of the mechanised agriculture station in Damanhour, officials handed over 44 maize shellers to smallholder farmers to help reduce post-harvest waste.
Governor Azer noted that Beheira remains one of Egypt’s most important agricultural hubs and a primary contributor to national food security, describing the wheat harvest as a season of “work, giving, and achievement.”
Beyond machinery, the KAFIEU project includes training programmes for 400,000 wheat farmers across five Nile Delta governorates to promote good agricultural practices and modern storage methods. It also funds the upgrade of seed sorting and processing facilities in Sakha, Gemmeiza, Sids, and Shandweel to improve seed quality.
Farouk praised the Agricultural Research Centre’s scientists and engineers, crediting the production leap to their work in developing high-yield, climate-resilient crop varieties and transferring technical knowledge to farmers.
