Egypt awakened by war, starts large wheat projects

• Daisy Mohr

  Middle East Correspondent

The Egyptian word for bread, aish, it also means life and Egyptians see their bread as a fundamental right. Bread prices are kept low with government subsidies in the hope of keeping the population happy.

“Bread is the most important food in my life, whatever you eat, it must be bread. It is simply essential,” says Ahmad, as he queues at a bakery in Cairo to buy Arabic buns for his family. “We need bread to gather strength to get back to work every day.”

Egypt is the largest wheat importer in the world and at least three quarters come from Russia and Ukraine. When the war ended abruptly this spring, the Egyptian government panicked. Stocks were dwindling, so where did all that grain suddenly come from to feed the more than 100 million Egyptians?

The Egyptian government never wants to be so dependent on other countries again, so major grain projects have begun in the Egyptian desert. They have been busy planting there since May.

Correspondent Daisy Mohr went to look at such a large project:

Smallholder farmers are also increasing their grain production. “Many farmers in the area are changing. They will grow wheat because the government encourages it,” says Tarek, an onion farmer in the Nile Delta. He sees around him that fewer onions will be planted for next season. Wheat is bought by the government at a good price. “Bread is our main food. And look, the desert is big enough. All kinds of things can grow in this yellow sand, we are expanding more and more, towards the desert.”

Hany Al Salamony, a socio-economic development expert in Cairo, says the plans are not entirely new, but have gained momentum due to the war. “We consume about 22 million tons of wheat a year, of which 12 for bread production and the rest for pasta, sweets and the like. We produce four to six million tons of wheat ourselves and we want to try to bring it to twelve million. So that we can at least be self-sufficient for our bread production, “says Al Salamony. “It doesn’t look like the war will be over anytime soon. We need to be able to take care of ourselves. We are trying all kinds of new types of wheat right now so we can optimize our production.”

The question is how realistic it is. Many Egyptians ignore concerns about water scarcity for the occasion, because the war in Ukraine means there are now other priorities.

While almost everything is getting more expensive, affordable bread is on the table in Egypt for the moment. This is not only reassuring for the baker and his customers, but also for the government. Because as soon as the price of bread goes up, Egyptians become restless and this can quickly lead to protests. This is the last thing the Egyptian government wants. It is therefore of great importance for the government of President Abdel Fattah al Sisi that grain stocks are guaranteed through their own production.