The Egyptian market witnessed prices hikes of vegetables, raising controversy among citizens, especially as they are not related to the high dollar exchange rate in the recent period. The increase of dollar price against the pound has led an increase in many goods that depend on the dollar such as drugs and imported products, even though the vegetables which are grown locally have also witnessed an increase in their prices.
An official in the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture said that Egypt imports the seeds used in agriculture, which led to the increase of vegetables prices during the recent period affected by the high dollar price against the local currency.
He revealed that Egypt imports seeds worth more than $2bn, of which some seeds may be inappropriate for the Egyptian soil, which change the taste of the vegetables or get ruined.
He added that the import of seeds has led to the increase of vegetables prices, which outraged the Egyptians because Egypt is known as an agricultural country.
The official noted that the importation of seeds is a profitable trade run by Egyptian tycoons who achieve annual revenue of more than $2bn, pointing out that the Ministry of Agriculture seeks to rely on local research to produce seeds.
He said that the Ministry of Agriculture lacks required state funds to finance research, in addition the state institute for seed production was only inaugurated in 2004, as the researches were previously carried out in the ministry's department, pointing out that the production of new seed needs 5-10 years at least, so the ministry tends to import alternative seeds from abroad.
A vegetable trader called Mohamed Abdel Motaal revealed that the agriculture companies in Egypt import seeds in dollar and sell them to the Egyptian farmers in the Egyptian pound over installments. He added the frequent increase of dollar price has led to price hikes of vegetables, noting that a kilo of onion now costs EGP 10 for the first time in ages.
Abdel Motaal warned against the end of growing tomatoes in Egypt, as the Egyptian government is forced to import tomato from abroad to meet the needs of the local market.
Minister of Trade and Industry Tarek Kabil said that Egypt imports about 80% of its needs of seed, even though Egypt could rely on domestic production.