New Agricultural Opportunities on Egypt’s North Coast

On 14–15 July, a delegation of ICARDA and ARC-Egypt scientists embarked on an exploratory visit to Marsa Matrouh, located on Egypt’s northwestern Mediterranean coast. The visit aimed to enhance understanding of the area’s natural environment, soil types, existing farming practices, and production systems, while identifying opportunities to introduce new farming system innovations. Building on our longstanding collaboration and previous achievements in Marsa Matrouh in the early 2000s, Egypt seeks to continue its partnership with ICARDA by advancing modern water harvesting techniques, introducing improved varieties for rainfed agriculture —especially barley— and strengthening small ruminant and camel breeding efforts.

The delegation began their tour at ARC’s Marsa Matrouh station, where Eng. Ahmed Youssef Abo El Kamal, Undersecretary at Egypt’s Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation (MALR), welcomed the group and provided a briefing on the region’s agricultural landscape and current efforts to supply farmers with seeds of improved crop varieties.