Sunday May 25/2025 – 10:01 PM
Alaa Farouk, Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, reviewed before the Committee of Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises in the House of Representatives, headed by Representative Mohamed Kamal Merhi, Chairman of the Committee, the role played by the Ministry to support this important sector.
The Minister stressed the great interest that the Ministry attaches to the small, medium and micro projects sector, and the important role of this sector in developing the Egyptian economy, as he pointed to some of what was done through the various sectors of the ministry in this regard.
Farouk explained that with regard to the livestock development sector, the project of supporting the young bitupples in cooperation with the Agricultural Bank and the National Bank achieved great success, as more than 44 thousand educators were supported by soft loans that exceeded 9.2 billion pounds.
He drew attention to the project to develop the dairy assembly centers in a lending portfolio of 250 million pounds, and the genetically improved wheel wheel project, which benefited about 200 beneficiaries of 25 million pounds.
The Minister of Agriculture: The petroleum financing exceeded 9.2 billion pounds … and the loans of the agricultural development program more than 12 billion pounds
He said that with regard to the executive apparatus of comprehensive development projects, about 160 million pounds were allocated as soft grants and loans in various areas such as North and South Sinai, Matrouh, Halayeb, Shalatin and Upper Egypt governorates, in partnership with the World Food Program and the Ministry of Social Solidarity, pointing to the role of the Desert Research Center in supporting the residents of the desert areas through the distribution of olive seedlings, almonds, animal production projects With a total grant of about 90 million pounds.
The Minister also reviewed the efforts of the project to support agricultural investments (a torrent) that is being implemented in cooperation with the Training Organization, where he provided grants of about 40 million pounds and opened a lending line worth 585 million pounds through the agricultural development program and the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority.
It also highlighted the project to support and enhance the marketing capabilities of small farmers in the countryside (Prime), which is also implemented with the Training Organization, where a lending portfolio of about 1.36 billion pounds was opened, from which about 40 thousand borrowers benefited and provided 42 thousand direct job opportunities.
The minister gave a detailed presentation of the activities of the Agricultural Development Program (ADP), noting that the program currently runs 8 projects, and the total loans granted from its inception until April 30, 2025 amounted to 12.146 billion pounds, of which 437,108 beneficiaries benefited, as the program achieved unprecedented positive results during the period from July 2024 to April 2025, and the approvals on the loans reached about 1.25 billion EGP.
The minister stressed that the program provides financing at the prices of simple decreasing returns ranging between 5% and 11.5%, where funding is available to medium and small companies and agricultural societies of all kinds as a maximum of 8 million pounds per activity and 12 million Egyptian pounds for more than one activity.
He explained that the program aims to achieve growth rates in the financing portfolio amounting to about 47% with funding of 1.730 billion pounds until June 2026, and 10% of the return is allocated to the surplus of funds invested to cover the cost of veterinary convoys and guidance campaigns, as the program’s contribution for this purpose reached about 190 million pounds, in addition to the program’s contribution to the amount of 250 million pounds within the Tamkeen platform in coordination with the Ministry of Social Solidarity to support The beneficiaries of the Takaful and Dignity Program.
During the committee meeting, some examples of success stories were reviewed in which the program contributed directly, the most important of which is the reclamation and cultivation of lands, increased productivity and sales to companies, and the reflection of this on increasing job opportunities.
