The Agriculture Ministry represented in the Central Administration for Agricultural Quarantine temporarily stopped the import of cotton from abroad starting on July 4.
Agriculture Minister Salah Hilal said that the decision aims to protect the domestic production of cotton, and to solve marketing problems. He stressed that the government has developed a number of scenarios to ensure solving all marketing problems, in addition to the rehabilitation of the textile factories to revive local production.
Egyptian farmers will not find any problem marketing their cotton, the minister said, pointing out that the move aims to restore the Egyptian cotton position locally and internationally and to prevent the inability of farmers to sell cotton as happened last year.
Mohamed Sobhy, head of Agricultural Extension Sector at the Agriculture Ministry, said that the decision aims to market the local production of cotton during the new season, pointing out that the total cotton cropped area is down to 247,000 acres, compared to 276,000 acres last year.
The average productivity of an acre of cotton is up to 700 kg, he said, adding he expected the total production of Egypt of cotton to be this season 1.9 billion kg. He pointed out that the Agriculture Ministry has established 360 fields to test new practices in cotton cultivation.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
