BREAKING: AfDB to support heat tolerant wheat varieties programme in Egypt

The African Development Bank (AfDB) is working with authorities in Egypt on a new programme to support the country by giving it access to the heat-tolerant wheat varieties, said president Akinwumi Adesina on Monday.

Speaking at a media lunch at the AfDB’s annual meetings in Sharm El-Sheikh, Adesina said he met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to agree on providing Egypt an access to the heat-tolerant wheat varieties, a move that will help the country move closer to increase its local productivity.

The new programme will build on the success of the AfDB’s Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) platform, which was launched in 2019 to help the continent fulfil its agricultural potential by exploring and employing high-impact technologies to boost output. TAAT aims at raising food output across the continent by 100 million tons and lifting 40 million people out of poverty by 2025.

The Russian war in Ukraine disrupted wheat purchases by Egypt, one of the world’s top buyers, and since then the government held talks with countries including India as it tried to diversify away from Black Sea supplies besides launching plans and initiatives to increase its domestic wheat production.

By 2025, Egypt targets rising self-sufficiency of domestic wheat output from 45 percent to 65 percent. For this, the government launched a national silos project to boost the storage capacity of wheat, targeting the launch of 60 new silos nationwide with a capacity of 10,000 tons each.

Over the past three years, the TAAT initiative has delivered heat-tolerant wheat varieties to 1.8 million farmers in seven countries, increasing wheat production by 2.7 million metric tons, worth $840 million.