Cairo – The head of the Central Administration of Plant Quarantine, dr. Ahmed Kamal El-Attar (pictured), said the governmetn made approximately 3,000 new farms eligible for export in the second half of 2021 from June through December.
In an interview with ANBA, he explained that the approved farms rely on five agricultural products, namely pomegranate, pepper, citrus, guava and strawberry. A total of 1,553 citrus farms and 688 pomegranate farms were added. The others are guava, pepper and strawberry producers.
El-Attar said the Central Administration of Plant Quarantine is currently working for Egyptian agricultural goods to break into a series of new markets like the Philippines and Thailand, as well as citrus for the United States and pomegranates for China.
He added that the department has worked toward selling goods in which Egypt has a competitive edge. “We have a surplus of product that could be exported like citrus, potatoes, onions, pomegranates, garlics, grapes and others,” he said.
Regarding the degree that Egyptian agricultural products benefit from the free trade agreement with Mercosur, El-Attar said his department is confined to breaking into markets for products from Egypt, and that the trade process pertains to companies and the private sector.
But he stressed that that Latin American markets are promising, since the agreements brings competitive edges, and companies should step up their efforts to benefit from it and increase their turnover.
Regarding the green onion crisis, the head of Central Administration of Plant Quarantine of Egypt said the accusations that the Egyptian green onion has caused infected some citizens of Denmark with the bacteria Coli are completely false.
El-Attar underscored that the goal of these rumors is to affect the reputation of the agricultural product from Egypt, which has attained a growth in recent years in terms of numbers and prices, despite the challenges the global market has gone through.
The ministry made public a statement confirming that green onion exports from Egypt reached 43,000 tonnes to more than 36 countries, including the European Union.
El-Attar said that, although around a week has gone by since these rumors arose, the government haven’t received any complaints regarding Egyptian green onions or agricultural goods in general.
The note of the Ministry pointed that the green onion case described was an indirect import to Denmark through the Netherlands, and that they were inside pre-processed fresh green salads, which is deemed as an additional manufacturing process whose primary responsible is the manufacturer they went through.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
