Egypt holds a summit in order to promote food security, which is a challenge to many countries that face the adequate access to food.
The summit is an opportunity for Egypt to share its experiences in addressing food security challenges and to work with other countries to develop innovative solutions.
“The aim of the summit is very simple. How can we increase availability? How can we increase production? How can we support the private sector to take a bigger role? in the food supply chain from, land reclamation to improving horizontally and vertically the production too, reduction of waste in the whole supply chain, sorting, and packaging, as well as upgrading our AgriFood industries”, an expert said.
“The private sector represents a big segment of the economy and has a pivotal role to work with the government for self-sufficiency in food products. We launched an initiative to support the country by freezing prices of our products, like Posta at lower than 35 percent of market price, especially as we had the month of Ramadan”, the official said.
Egypt imports over 70 percent of its needs. Therefore, the impact of global inflation, the recent floating of the Egyptian pound, and the supply chain disruptions have hit the predominantly poor population of the North African country. Officials here outlined the government’s strategy to deal with the crisis.
“We have been working over the past few years to ensure that we have sufficient security present. In order for the whole country to increase storage capacity. Our strategy has been a minimum of three to six months of the strategic reserve of all strategic commodities, and at the same time from two to three months’ reserve of raw materials for both food industries and pharmaceuticals”, the official added.
The solution is that the conference is mainly medium to long-term. Meantime, the government has moved promptly to support low-income earners by establishing tens of outlets countrywide to sell food commodities at discounted prices.
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“The prices here are excellent, and the timing is too because traders increase prices before Ramadan. The government is providing chicken and rice, for example, at good quality and low prices’’, a female trader said.
In spite of the efforts by the government. There is concern that a prolonged conflict in Eastern Europe will continue to put more pressure on the food supply sector in North African countries.
