Increasing Agricultural Growth Rate to 4 Percent Aimed

The agricultural development strategy is aimed at making best use of available resources of lands, water, capital and technologies to achieve an annual growth rate of four percent, the Agriculture Minister Amin Abaza told a FAO meeting in Cairo Saturday. Egypt wants its agricultural production to help it attain food security and provide row agricultural material needed for its national industries, minister Amin Abaza told the opening session of experts’ talks of FAO’s Near East Regional Conference that addresses food security and agricultural development in the region. Egypt also seeks to increase its agricultural exports, generate job opportunities in the rural areas and improve the living standards of farmers, he added. The strategy is also aimed at reclaiming 167,000 feddans yearly to create 85,000 job opportunities, Abaza said. The experts’ meeting will last until Monday to be followed by ministerial talks on Tuesday and Wednesday. The five-day Cairo gathering is sponsored by Egypt’s Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif. FAO Director General Jacques Diouf will arrive in Egypt Sunday to attend the conference along with representatives from the 32 FAO Near East member states. The conference aims at highlighting regional issues and constraints and identifying regional priority areas in preparation for the FAO biennial Program of Work and Budget and longer term strategic work of the organization in the region.

Originally published by Info-Prod Strategic Business Information.

(c) 2008 Info-Prod Research (Middle East). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.