Egypt plays the card of self-sufficiency in the fish industry
Since 2015, Egypt it is collaborating with Italian experts in order to develop the aquaculture sector in the country and the first signs are looking quite promising. In fact, the Fish and Aquaculture sector it is a matter of national interest and it is backed up by the army. The first phase of Berket Ghalioun project was completed in November 2017 and the fish farm located in the northern
coastal province of Kafr el-Sheikh is now able to produce 6,000 tons of shrimp and 13,800 tons of fish every year, as reported by Arab Weekly magazine.
“This is a dream project that takes us many steps forward on the road to producing enough fish to meet growing consumption,”
said Hamdy Badeen, head of the National Company for Fish Resources and Aquaculture.
About $100 million were spent by Egyptian authorities to establish the new farm. Its first phase includes 4,000 acres of fish ponds, nurseries and hatcheries. It also includes factories for the packaging of fish as well as those for the production of ice and fish fodder. The project is to come to the final phase in June 2018. For the local authorities Berket Ghalioun project it is a gift from
the gods as the fish farm developed in Kafr el-Sheikh has directly provided 10,000 jobs and will indirectly create 30,000 more.
But, besides that, on a large scale, the biggest farm fish in the Middle East is expected to supply the domestic market with animportant amount of food. Egypt has a population of about 96 million people and has to import a big volume of food to cover the domestic demand.
Heavy dependence on imports has continuously landed Egypt in trouble by draining its foreign currency reserves and causing unending food insecurity.
“Some countries take their food self-sufficiency for granted, but in Egypt a huge gap between food production and consumption
makes this self-sufficiency a dream. I think some serious action is being taken now to make this dream come true”, explained
Salah al-Guindi, an economics professor at Mansura University.
Egypt consumes close to 2.4 million tons of fish every year but produces just over 60% of this amount at home. Berket
Ghalioun fish farm and other smaller projects could now provide a large volume of fish and seafood to cover the domestic
demand.
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