CAIRO, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi inaugurated on Monday the harvest season of the Future of Egypt Project for Sustainable Agriculture, the state-run Ahram Online news website reported.
The project, covering over 1.05 million feddans (1.09 acres), is part of Egypt's mega agricultural project New Delta, which was initiated to achieve self-sufficiency in strategic crops and produce surplus food for export, according to the report.
Alongside several agricultural projects, the New Delta project aims to reclaim 4.5 million feddans (4.67 million acres) of land for crop cultivation by 2027. Currently, it has already reclaimed 800,000 feddans (830,400 acres) across Egypt and provided 2.5 million jobs, the official data showed.
The agricultural sector contributes 15 percent to Egypt's gross domestic product and employs around a quarter of the total workforce. In 2023, agricultural exports brought 9 billion U.S. dollars to the country, according to official data.
Meanwhile, during the inauguration ceremony, Sisi highlighted water scarcity in Egypt, demanding the development of advanced irrigation and agricultural mechanisms to save water.
He noted that 190 billion Egyptian pounds (about 4.04 billion dollars) have been spent building water treatment plants for agriculture, supplementing the country's water supply, which has been dependent on its fixed share of the Nile River.
Sisi also launched the first phase of the industrial zone in the area for agricultural industries at the event.
