Japan Aids Egypt with $3.8 Mln. for Food Security, Agricultural Productivity

H.E. Mr. OKA Hiroshi, Ambassador of Japan to Egypt signed and exchanged notes with Mr. Nasredin Hag Elamin, Representative of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Egypt, regarding the provision of a grant aid of 520 million yen (approximately 3.8 million US dollars) to support the Government of Egypt to improve agricultural productivity for food security in Egypt.

The signing ceremony was witnessed by key stakeholders in Egypt with regard to this project: Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, Dr. Hani Sewilam, Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Dr Abdulhakim Elwaer, Assistant-Director-General and Regional Representative of FAO for the Near East and North Africa, Elena Panova, UN Resident Coordinator in Egypt and Dr. Aly Abousabaa, Director General of International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA).

The project will support the Egyptian government’s efforts to ensure food security by increasing water productivity in agriculture and resilience to climate change. It will target small-scale farmers in rural areas of Upper Egypt and the Nile Delta with the introduction of modern irrigation facilities and solar-powered pumps, the installation of agri-voltaic greenhouses and the provision of highly efficient attachments for agricultural tractors and heat and saline-tolerant crop varieties. In addition, the project will collaborate with Tottori University in Japan, which is highly knowledgeable about dryland agriculture, and JICA's “Improving Small-scale Farmers' Market-Oriented Agriculture Project” (ISMAP) to increase farmers' incomes.