Egypt deals with China to adopt salt-tolerant crops

Egypt and China have on Wednesday signed an agreement to collaborate on the adoption of drought and salt-tolerant crop under a three-year work plan.

Egypt’s Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation and his Chinese counterpart signed the agreement, according to an official statement.

The deal is part of a three-year action plan for agricultural cooperation (2023-2025) between the two countries, said the Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation Al-Sayed Al-Qusair.

The statement added the plan includes exchanging expertise on agricultural innovation, including modern water-guided technologies, organic and biodynamic farming, and combating pests and plant diseases using environmentally friendly biopesticides.

Climate change is having dramatic consequences on agriculture worldwide due to the multiple abiotic stresses pressing on plants including salinity. In that situation, one of the most promising approaches is searching for new sources of genetic variation like salt-tolerant alternative crops or underexploited crops.