Title: El-Sisi: We Are Considering Growing More Profitable Crops Than Wheat

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi indicated today, Monday, that growing more profitable and exportable crops than wheat could benefit the country. In a ceremony marking the current local wheat harvest season, El-Sisi said: "Don't tell me today I can plant a million feddans of wheat yielding 500,000 tons or something, while you can grow other products worth three times the value of wheat—this is a discussion we are having." He added that "Egypt can export these profitable crops and use the revenues to import wheat." Egypt is one of the largest wheat importers in the world, typically importing about 10 million tons annually. The government imports about half of this quantity to provide subsidized bread for tens of millions of Egyptians. Limited water resources and a growing population pose challenges to achieving self-sufficiency in wheat in Egypt.