Egypt Daily News – Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation, said that the development of Upper Egypt governorates is the state’s top priority, noting that the investments allocated to Upper Egypt governorates in the plan for the current fiscal year amount to 62.4 billion pounds, of which 7.4 billion pounds are for Minya Governorate, or 11%.
The Minister added during her inspection visit to the West Samalout region in Minya Governorate, accompanied by Dr. Hani Sweilem, Minister of Irrigation, Alaa Farouk, and the Minister of Agriculture, to inspect the work of developing irrigation in the Tarfa Line, solar energy stations, as well as models of a number of field schools and agriculture, that the presidential initiative “A Decent Life” played a major role in achieving integrated development in the countryside, especially in the regions of Upper Egypt, as the financial allocations to the governorates of Upper Egypt in the first phase of the initiative amounted to about 237 billion pounds, including 43.2 billion pounds for Minya Governorate only.
The Minister touched on the effective contribution of the agricultural sector to the gross domestic product at 12%, making it one of the most contributing sectors, explaining that enhancing sustainability in the agricultural and irrigation sectors stimulates job creation and supports economic development.
She stressed that developing irrigation and solar energy systems is one of the basics for achieving agricultural sustainability in Egypt, pointing to the Egyptian government’s efforts to exploit water resources effectively and support farmers with modern technologies that guarantee them higher productivity.
Within the framework of the project, 12 assembled solar energy units were supplied for irrigation development work at Station 14 in Minya, along with the supply and installation of 40 pumps and solar panels in the Upper Egypt region to convert irrigation systems from flood irrigation to drip irrigation for 135 farmers on an area of 675 acres.
During her tour to inspect models of field schools and crops; She explained that the project focuses on the methodology of field schools for farmers, which focuses on collective and market-based agricultural extension and participatory learning, noting the cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to implement 172 new field schools in the project’s work areas, which include plant and animal schools and others related to climate change.
