CAIRO, May 11 (MENA) – Executive Director of Egypt’s Future Authority for Sustainable Development Bahaa al-Ghannam said the authority plans to reclaim 1.6 million feddans by 2025, and 4.5 million feddans by 2027.
In exclusive statements to MENA on Sunday, which has inspected the progress of the Future of Egypt project for agricultural production, as the harvest season began for some crops – such as wheat, beetle, and potato, Ghannam added that the authority aims to pursue many agricultural reclamation projects in the New Delta, Minya, Beni Suef, and Fayyoum regions.
Highlighting the unprecedented growth rate of annual reclaimed land between 2018 and 2024, Ghannam said up to 800,000 feddans have been reclaimed by 2024, compared to 30,000 feddans, and 60,000 feddans in 2018 and 2023, respectively.
He said the ongoing project in El Dakhleh and Al Uwaynat areas provides a good model for reclaiming vast swathes of desert land in coordination with the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Resources, noting that 15,000 feddans have already been reclaimed during the first phase of the project, while preparations are in full swing for the second phase, which seeks to reclaim another 200,000 feddans.
The agricultural project is considered the first project under the New Delta Project to achieve self-sufficiency and export the surplus, as the targeted area for reclamation is 1,050,000 feddans of the total New Delta Project that covers an area of 2.2 million feddans. The total cost of the project is 8 billion EGP.
The project entails the implementation of the greenhouse project in Al-Lahoun in Fayoum, covering an area of about 16,000 feddans with a total of about 1,800 Spanish and Egyptian greenhouses for the cultivation of vegetable crops, medicinal and aromatic plants, such as marjoram, anise, thyme, and mint, as well as fruit crops such as grape, mango, pomegranate, banana, and Spanish fig. (MENA)
