Egypt’s small farms play big role but struggle to survive

Egypt’s small farms play big role but struggle to survive

Despite their crucial role providing food for the North African nation’s 103 million people, smallholders are cash-strapped and indebted, frequently selling their harvests at a loss

A farmer collects the pepper crop, in el-Fashn in Egypt's Beni Suef governorate, some 150 kilometres south of the capital, on June 13, 2022. The crops are collected for the benefit of start-ups companies contracting with the owner of the lands. — AFP

By AFP Published: Sun 24 Jul 2022, 5:53 PM Last updated: Sun 24 Jul 2022, 5:54 PM

Egyptian smallholders grow nearly half of the country’s crops, a lifeline role increasingly important after grain imports were stalled by war in Ukraine — but they are struggling to survive.

Despite their crucial role providing food for the North African nation’s 103 million people, smallholders are cash-strapped and indebted, frequently selling their harvests at a loss.

“The farmer is dead, trampled,” farmer Zakaria Aboueldahab told AFP, brewing tea on his rented plot of wheat and onions in Qalyubia, 30 kilometres (18 miles) north of Cairo.

“I’m trying to sell my onion harvest but I can’t find a market,” he said, the remnants of his crop scattered across the soil. “I just want to break even. I don’t know how I’m