Agriculture & Agro-industry

Despite steadily increasing urbanisation in recent years, the agriculture sector remains a cornerstone of Egypt’s economy, both in terms of overall value-added output and employment. Egypt produces a wide range of crops and other agricultural products, including cereals such as wheat and corn rice, fruits and vegetables, sugar, cotton, dairy products, livestock and fish, among others. Solid support for agricultural activity on the part of the government and new opportunities for domestic and foreign investors alike point to an expansion of the sector in the coming years. However, Egypt’s agriculture sector still faces a range of challenges. High and rising rates of inflation are an issue, with the annual food and beverage inflation rate at 13.8% as of October 2016, up significantly from 11% a year earlier. The current government has set out a series of focused agriculture-focused programmes in a bid to address these issues.

This chapter contains an interview with Ahmed El Rashidi, Managing Director, El Rashidi El Mizan.