Egypt explores agricultural collaboration with Senegal, Somalia

Egypt’s Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, Alaa Farouk, engaged in discussions with his counterparts from Senegal and Somalia on the sidelines of the African Union’s Extraordinary Summit on Agricultural Development, held in Kampala, Uganda. The talks focused on enhancing joint agricultural cooperation to promote sustainable development across Africa.

Farouk and Senegal’s representatives emphasised increasing expertise exchange in sustainable agriculture, training opportunities, modern agricultural technologies, and agricultural research.

Key topics included expanding trade in agricultural products and overcoming barriers. Senegal sought Egypt’s expertise to develop new varieties of strategic crops like wheat, maize, and rice while also proposing partnership to establish a seed production centre in Senegal, supported by the African Development Bank.

Additionally, Senegal requested Egyptian assistance in building grain storage facilities and importing nitrogen fertilisers.

With Somalia, Farouk met with Mohamed Abdi Hayir, Somalia’s Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation, to discuss joint efforts in agricultural research, climate change mitigation, and digital transformation. Talks also covered livestock development, pest control and disease management, and water resource management.

Egypt pledged to send agricultural experts to Somalia and host Somali professionals for training at the Egyptian International Centre for Agriculture (EICA).

Both meetings highlighted the importance of strengthening agricultural trade and removing obstacles to facilitate the exchange of products. The ministers agreed to hold technical-level meetings to finalise collaboration frameworks and update memoranda of understanding to activate cooperation soon.

Attribution: Amwal Al Ghad English

Subediting: M. S. Salama