WATANI International
18 April 2010
Observers agree that historical and political ties between Egypt and Africa could offer fertile ground for stimulating economic ties. Egypt, with its political clout, economic weight and sound scientific and technological base, is capable of acting as a major force in the continent.
The past few years have experienced a government drive to further engage with African countries, with the ministries of agriculture and foreign affairs taking the lead. In this context, an idea of establishing ideal farms was floated. These farms are based upon joint cooperation between Egypt and members of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), with the Egyptian party providing technical assistance and the African providing the fertile land in non-drought regions.
Absent infrastructures
In early January, President Mubarak discussed with visiting Ugandan Prime Minster Apolo Nsibambi ways of boosting economic cooperation as well as a number of joint schemes. Foremost among these was growing wheat in vast areas of Uganda. It goes without saying that, for Egypt, wheat is a strategic crop and securing a relatively nearby source of it is very significant. Egypt will cultivate sites that have sufficient water but which are not used by Ugandans for absence of necessary infrastructure. The Egyptians will begin by establishing the infrastructure required in order to cultivate the land.
Mr Nsibambi said that although Uganda was a landlocked country, shipping wheat to Egypt would by no means constitute an obstacle for ports in East Africa, most of which had joint cooperation agreements with Kampala.
Protecting resources
Ministry of Agriculture joint project-coordinator Abdel-Aziz al-Deeb, who is liaising with COMESA, says Egypt is keen to establish farms in East African and Nile Basin countries to protect water resources and enhance the supply of basic crops. Egypt now has three farms in Zambia, Niger and Tanzania where corn, rice and vegetables are cultivated respectively. Within the coming few weeks, he adds, agreement concerning the farms with Uganda will be referred to Parliament for endorsement. According to its first phase, the project will cover 200 hectares.
Prime Minister’s spokesman Magdy Radi says a government committee is expected to be dispatched to Uganda in the near future to investigate the suitable land area on which the wheat will be grown.
Saïd Nassar, a Ministry of Agriculture consultant, says the two governments were investigating options regarding types of land possession, that is whether Egyptian investors would buy the land; the land would be jointly owned by the two countries; or would be operated under a franchise.
Meanwhile a media blackout—described by many as unjustifiable—has been imposed on the outcome of a previous experience in Sudan, where it was announced that wheat would be grown on vast areas of fertile land. Some observers have accused self-interested businessmen of plotting to cause the project to fail to preserve their monopolistic position as importers of US wheat.
No coherent policy
MP Farid Ismail has submitted an interpellation to Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif and the ministers of agriculture, investment and economic development to clarify details of the project to grow crops in Uganda. He accused the government of subsidising Ugandan farmers to the detriment of Egyptian ones. After providing the Ugandan side with Egyptian seeds and expertise, he said, the government would buy the crop in accordance with global market prices. He lambasted the government for placing obstacles in the way of Egyptian farmers and ruining a project to cultivate 500,000 feddans of wheat in the Egyptian desert. After being implemented in 43 villages, results were promising as productivity in these feddans was as high as 33 ardebs (an ardeb is equal to approximately 174kg)
“Egypt has no coherent agricultural strategy,” Hany Raslan of the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies argues. Rather than farming in Uganda, he says, Egypt should have focused on Sudan which is far closer. A project to grow wheat in the region of Arqin, south of the Egyptian border, was stopped by the Egyptian government without any explanation. Dr Raslan, however, ruled out speculations that foreign pressures stood behind the halt of the project, and indicated that the area’s residents showed resistance to the project. He believes that the Egyptian-Ugandan project would serve Egypt’s interest.
Grave danger
Not all agriculturalists agree. Cairo University Professor of Agriculture Hassan Abu-Bakr says Uganda is bubbling with tribal friction and political turmoil. He does not advocate cancelling the project, but thinks it has to be viewed as complementary to those carried out on Egyptian soil. As for the failure of the Sudanese project, he says, it has to do with opposition by Arqin residents. The Sudanese are not as willing to cooperate as they were in the past, since Egypt has declined to pay attention to their grievances. Responding to claims that projects in Africa would render Egypt self-sufficient in wheat, Dr Abu-Bakr said that whether or not this could be attainable, Egypt should establish equitable trade terms with all partners and in all commodities.
“Founding agricultural projects in Nile Basin countries is the best investment Egypt could undertake,” economic expert Mukhtar al-Sherif suggests. In this regard Sudan should be a priority, given its geographic proximity and similarities in terms of culture. Dr Sherif says infrastructure was now being laid for a project to cultivate two million feddans in the north of Sudan. He does not oppose the idea of establishing joint agricultural projects with Uganda despite the turbulent atmosphere there; giant projects, he says, enjoy the protection of the State.
Small investor misunderstanding
At the end of 2008, Arab premiers held a meeting to confront the threat of food insecurity in the region by regulating Arab agricultural investment in Sudan and Mauritania. Following this, the Egyptian government sent farmers to Sudan. However, there was some misunderstanding in relation to forms of possession. The Egyptian farmers thought they would own the land they reclaimed, but the Sudanese law prohibited such land sale. Mohamed Badr, an expert of Sudanese affairs, says this misunderstanding caused huge problems for the farmers involved. They could not own the land, he said, but they could enjoy rights of possession. He adds that despite such difficulties, investment in Sudan is worthwhile. For instance, the cost of reclaiming one feddan in the Egyptian desert is 50 times higher than in Sudan. Even though Hamdy al-Tahan, a member of the Egyptian Sudanese Company, advocates formal projects with Sudan, he has reservations about sending Egyptian farmers there on grounds that it leaves room for all kinds of fraud. He insists young Egyptians should not invest in Sudan unless they have sufficient information.