Al-Mashat:
● EGP 17.5 billion in public investments directed to agriculture and irrigation activities in the upcoming fiscal year's plan.
● Expansion in modern agriculture and advanced irrigation: The 2025/2026 plan targets 750,000 new feddans.
● The new fiscal year's plan targets $5 billion in agricultural crop exports.
During the plenary session of the House of Representatives held today, H.E. Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation, reviewed the features of the real economy sectors in the 2025/2026 plan. She stressed that the plan focuses on these sectors in line with the structural reforms sought by the government's work program. The Council meeting was chaired by H.E. Counselor Dr. Hanafi Gebali, and attended by the honorable members of the House of Representatives.
Regarding the agriculture and irrigation sector, H.E. Dr. Rania Al-Mashat affirmed that the public investments directed to agriculture and irrigation activities in the 2025/2026 plan are estimated at around EGP 17.5 billion, pointing to the priorities of agricultural investment and development that emphasize continuing the expansion of agricultural reclamation programs in the Toshka, North and Central Sinai, and New Delta areas.
The Minister of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation pointed out that the plan aims to expand programs to improve the productivity per feddan of agricultural crops by a rate ranging between 5% and 10%, in order to raise the efficiency of land and water unit use by developing high-yield, early-maturing, and low-water-requiring crop varieties, along with develop and modernize field irrigation systems to reach a beneficiary area ratio of 10%. In addition to developing agricultural drainage methods, expanding the application of modern agricultural practices such as drip and pivot irrigation, expanding greenhouse projects and protected agriculture systems, reducing agricultural losses, and enhancing the agricultural extension system.
H.E. Dr. Al-Mashat added that the plan also aims to expand the application of the contractual agriculture system to 1.8 million feddans to include many other agricultural commodities, besides wheat, sugarcane, sugar beet, tomatoes, potatoes, and citrus fruits, such as yellow corn, cotton, and oil crops (sunflower and soybeans). Continuing her speech on the priorities of agricultural investment and development, which include working on diversifying the sources of agricultural imports – especially wheat and corn – while expanding the storage capacities of wheat silos to reach about 5.5 million tons in the plan year, and expanding the cropped area to exceed 21 million feddans in 2025/2026, such as wheat by 52%, corn by 55%, and fava beans by 39%, and completing the establishment of (18) agricultural communities in the North and South Sinai governorates, in addition to developing the agricultural holding system (Farmer's Card) to reach a beneficiary holding ratio of 80%. The plan also aims to expand the export of surplus agricultural crops, such as vegetables and fruits, so that the value of exports thereof in the plan year exceeds about $5 billion.
H.E. Minister Al-Mashat emphasized that the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation's plan aimed to develop water resources and raise the efficiency of their use. This is through expanding projects for the rehabilitation and lining of canals with a length of 600 km, expanding the system of transformation to modern field irrigation, establishing and developing pumping stations, constructing dams, artificial lakes, and reservoirs to accommodate floodwater, and completing the construction of the new Assiut Barrages. This aims to improve irrigation works in an area of 1.6 million feddans in 5 Upper Egypt governorates, and establishing, replacing, and renovating about 616 barrages and industrial facilities, in addition to establishing 85 dams, artificial lakes, and underground reservoirs to accommodate floodwater, and rehabilitating the drains of Jabal Al-Akhdar – Belbeis – Qalyubia – Bahr El-Baqar, and the industrial works thereon to accommodate the discharges of treated sewage stations.
In addition to continuing the development of livestock to increase by a rate of one million heads during 2025/2026, as well as poultry and fish farming projects to achieve self-sufficiency in white meat and fish, with an increase in the self-sufficiency rate of red meat to 60%, through continuing to activate projects to revive veal production and milk collection centers, and fish farms in Berket Ghalioun in Kafr El-Sheikh and East Port Said farms in Port Said Governorate, and projects to enhance fish wealth in the Qarun, Manzala, and Burullus lakes.