According to Mr. Joost Geijer, Agricultural Counsellor at the Embassy of The Kingdom of The Netherlands in Cairo, the huge project is the result of the ambitious plans of current president Abdul Fatah al-Sisi. "President El-Sisi's governmental policy reforms are intended to stimulate the growth of the economy also with large scale projects; for example the recent completion of the New Suez Canal, but also with the implementation of large scale advanced agriculture. The Egyptian government is looking at increasing the domestic production of fruit, vegetables and dairy products for the purpose of export."
Mr. Joost Geijer, Agricultural Counsellor at the Embassy of The Kingdom of The Netherlands in Cairo together with Egyptian Minister of Agriculture Mr. Essam Osman Fayed, upon arrival at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport last Wednesday.
Mr. Geijer explained that Egypt has approached Holland to take a look at the feasibility of their plans. "The Netherlands are known as a global leader in the field of efficient and innovative large scale agri- and horticulture. Egypt requested us to assist them as a counterpart and help them with our knowledge to provide insight on chances and opportunities."
Together with the expertise of Wageningen University, several feasibility studies will be conducted to explore the chances for large scale horticulture in Egypt. Right now the country is already an important player in the fresh produce industry as a major exporter of citrus, beans, garlic and onions. But with the addition of protected greenhouse crops like tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers, Egypt is looking to become an even more important exporter to Western Europe, the UK, Russia and the Middle East.
"The feasibility study needs to determine what the chances are for large scale horticulture in Egypt, taking into account key aspects throughout the entire chain; from the availability of fresh water towards marketing opportunities and post harvest criteria", said Mr. Geijer. "We will provide detailed business cases to analyze if it is possible to develop economically viable large scale horticulture in Egypt."
Wageningen University presented the delegacy vision, strategy and planning advice on metropolitan food clusters development.
The visit of the Egyptian Presidential Delegation to the Netherlands is a follow up to an earlier visit in March this year, when the Arab Organisation for Industrialisation (AOI) already paid a visit to Holland to become acquainted withe key players in the Dutch greenhouse industry. As a result of this visit, the group inked an agreement with Dutch turn key greenhouse developer Bosman Van Zaal for the realization of a 1.5 hectare pilot project.
The visit of the Egyptian delegacy at growers cooperative Harvest House in Maasdijk.
This week the group visited several other important players in The Netherlands like Harvest House, where they could see how a large group of consolidated growers as a cooperation have become a leading supplier of greenhouse vegetables to the largest wholesale markets of Western Europe. The group also paid a visit to Rijk Zwaan, the Dutch seed breeder that is globally active and recently opened a subsidiary in Egypt. Furthermore the group will visit several leading players within the dairy and livestock industry.