Abbas al-Shennawi, head of the services sector at the Agriculture Ministry, said one million feddans, the remaining amount of wheat targeted to be cultivated in Egypt this year, could be planted between 1 and 20 December.

As of Sunday, 2.2 million feddans have been cultivated, Shennawi told Al-Masry Al-Youm.

On Saturday, a wheat supply monitoring group said Egypt has enough strategic wheat reserves to last until May.

Ahmed al-Rakiabi, head of the committee and of the Holding Company for Food Industries, said wheat quantities have not been affected by Egypt’s ongoing political strife. He added that there are plans to increase the supply as a result of current international prices.

Rakiabi added that the domestic wheat harvest season would begin next April, ensuring that the strategic reserve of wheat would last until mid-May.

Agriculture Minister Salah Mohamed Abdel Momen said on Thursday that the ministry drew up to increase productivity and increase Egypt’s wheat self-sufficiency to 59 percent by next year.

Egypt imports more than half of its wheat supplies, and almost a quarter of that amount comes from the US, according to the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies.

According to international reports, grain prices have risen by 12 percent compared to last year, jumping to near 2008 levels, which were the highest ever recorded.

Reports have also said that total food prices have increased 7 percent from last year.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm