Agricultural expert on the jojoba plant Alaa al-Hagawy advised the cultivation of the plant saying it could achieve revenues equal to Suez Canal revenues.
He called on the government to provide one million acres of agricultural land to be distributed to youth and cultivated with jojoba, which would be marketed later on international stock exchanges.
Jojoba is a main ingredient for many medications and is used in fuel for planes and is included in many industries like bio-fuels, he said. Ten acres of jojoba plants could achieve a return of LE1 million a year, said Hagaway.
The project only needs a political will to be established, he argued. Hagawy called for meeting the president to discuss the project.
The jojoba plant has large global stock markets around the world and it was successfully cultivated in Sinai, Hagawy said. He called on the government to establish a special device for the distribution of a million acres in Sinai on youth to be allocated for the cultivation of jojoba and to establish a stock market for the plant on the new Suez Canal.
The government had allocated thousands of acres for the project in 6th of October City before the January revolution in 2011 but the project was suspended after the revolution, he said.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
