- Agriculture and Irrigation are key pillars for enhancing food and water security and supporting sustainable economic development efforts.
- 144.8 billion EGP in total targeted investments for the agriculture and irrigation sectors in the FY 2025/2026 plan.
- Continue expanding agricultural land reclamation programs, improving crop yield per feddan, and increasing water use efficiency.
The Ministry of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation reviewed the targets for the agriculture and irrigation sector in its report on the FY 2025/2026 plan. The fourth section of the plan details sectoral targets, starting with commodity sectors like agriculture, irrigation, manufacturing, mining, and electricity, followed by productive services sectors, including transport, information and communication technology, tourism, and the Suez Canal activity.
The 2025/2026 plan document uses a unified analytical approach for all sectoral targets. It first reviews the economic importance of the sector, then the specific development vision, ensuring it aligns with the Sustainable Development Strategy: Egypt Vision 2030, the targets of the Government Action Program (2024/2025 – 2026/2027), and the national strategy proposed by the relevant ministry.
H.E. Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation, highlighted the dual economic importance of the agriculture and irrigation sector. It serves as a foundational pillar of national food security and a mainstay for enhancing the productive capacities of national industry and its related activities of transport, trade, and logistics services.
Agriculture is also the primary source of income and employment, given its vast geographical spread and its employment of over 50% of the total population in rural areas, who are primarily dependent on agricultural activities and related animal, poultry, and fish production, as well as transport, storage, and marketing services.
Total Investments for the Agriculture and Irrigation Sectors
H.E. Dr. Al-Mashat added that agriculture plays a pivotal role in developing the country’s foreign exchange resources through the export of agricultural products. It also contributes effectively to strengthening its inter-sectoral linkages with other economic sectors, making it a key driver for their growth. The agriculture and irrigation sector is one of the most significant sectors for enhancing the components of sustainable development across its three dimensions: economic, social, and environmental. Minister Al-Mashat noted that the plan allocates total investments of about 144.8 billion EGP to agriculture and irrigation activities in 2025/2026, including 17.5 billion EGP in public investments and 127.4 billion EGP in private investments.
Agricultural Production Targets
The Ministry of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation’s report indicated the development plan’s targets for 2025/2026. Regarding agricultural output, the plan aims for the sector’s production to reach approximately 3.7 trillion EGP in 2025/2026, up from an estimated 3.3 trillion EGP in 2024/2025, and to grow to 5.7 trillion EGP by the end of the medium-term plan in 2028/2029.
As for agricultural product, the goal is to increase the agricultural product—after excluding the value of intermediate production inputs—to about 2.6 trillion EGP in 2025/2026, reaching 4 trillion EGP in 2028/2029, a growth rate of 53.8%, compared to the expected product of about 2.3 trillion EGP in 2024/2025.
Key Targets in the Agriculture and Irrigation Sectors
The report explained that the priorities for agricultural investment and development in the plan include: continuing the expansion of agricultural reclamation programs in the Toshka, North and Central Sinai, and New Delta lands. Expanding programs to improve crop yield per feddan by 10% to 15%, by increasing the efficiency of land and water use through the cultivation of high-yield, early-maturing, and low-water-consuming crops, developing and modernizing field irrigation systems to benefit 18% of the total area, improving agricultural drainage methods and expanding the application of modern agricultural practices, such as drip and pivot irrigation, expanding greenhouse projects and protected agriculture systems, reducing agricultural waste and developing the agricultural extension system, expanding the application of the contract farming system (1.8 million feddans) to include other agricultural products in addition to wheat, sugarcane, sugar beets, tomatoes, potatoes, and citrus fruits, such as yellow corn, cotton, and oilseed crops (sunflower and soybeans), continuing to activate programs for the production of selected seeds to meet agricultural needs and reduce reliance on imports, which are subject to price fluctuations, quality variations, and potential incompatibility with the Egyptian agricultural environment. Diversifying the origins of agricultural imports—especially wheat and corn—and expanding the storage capacity of wheat silos to reach about 5.5 million tons in the plan year, expanding the cropped area to exceed 21 million feddans in 2025/2026, including wheat (52%), corn (55%), and fava beans (39%), completing the establishment of 18 agricultural complexes in North and South Sinai governorates, as well as developing the agricultural land tenure system (Farmer’s Card) to reach 80% of beneficiaries.
Livestock Development
The plan’s priorities for agricultural investment and development also include continuing to develop livestock, with a targeted increase of one million heads during 2025/2026. It also focuses on developing poultry and fish farming projects to achieve self-sufficiency in white meat and fish, while increasing red meat self-sufficiency to 60%. This will be achieved by continuing to activate projects for revitalizing the veal industry and milk collection centers, fish farms at البركة in Kafr El Sheikh and East Al-Tafri’a in Port Said, and projects to enhance fish resources in Qarun, Manzala, and Burullus lakes. The plan also aims to expand the export of surplus agricultural products, such as vegetables and fruits, to exceed $5 billion in value during the plan year.
Water Resources Development
Complementing agricultural development efforts, the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation’s plan aims to develop water resources and increase their use efficiency by: expanding projects for canal rehabilitation and lining over a length of 600 km, expanding the transition to modern field irrigation systems, constructing and upgrading pumping stations, building dams, artificial lakes, and reservoirs to hold floodwater, completing the construction of the New Deirout Barrage to improve irrigation for 1.6 million feddans in five governorates in Upper Egypt, constructing, replacing, and renovating about 616 barrages and other structures (inlets, bridges, weirs, etc.), constructing 85 dams, artificial lakes, and underground reservoirs to contain floodwater, continuing efforts to rehabilitate drains, including Jabal al-Akhdar, Belbeis, Qalyubia, and Bahr al-Baqar, and their associated structures, to accommodate the discharge of treated sewage stations, completing the development of the Toshka spillway, constructing the feeder canal for the Thomas and Afiya area, 57 km long, in the Toshka project in Aswan, addressing siltation in Lake Nasser, improving water quality in the Kitchener Drain, protecting the coast of Alexandria and reinforcing submerged breakwaters (Phase 1), constructing and replacing covered agricultural drainage networks in an area of 60,000 feddans in both Lower and Upper Egypt, as well as constructing and replacing about 35 industrial structures on drains (bridges, culverts, etc.).
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation – Egypt.