The President of the Senate opens the plenary session today

Counselor Abdel-Wahab Abdel-Razzaq, President of the Senate, opened the work and activities of the Council’s plenary session for today.

According to the agenda of the plenary session, the Council will discuss the report of the joint committee from the Agriculture and Irrigation Committee and the Office of the Financial, Economic and Investment Affairs Committee on a study on Egyptian cotton cultivation, and the challenges and incentives to improve the investment climate.
The report stated that Egyptian cotton is one of the finest types of cotton in the world because it is superior to all international cottons in terms of quality, spinning qualities, staple length and softness.
The report stated that the cotton crop is one of the crops on which many other integrated industries are based. It is a fiber crop, of which a ton produces about 400 kg of cotton hair (fiber), 120 kg of edible oil (cotton seed oil), and 480 kg of animal feed (meal). Therefore, expanding cotton cultivation is considered one of the main goals of increasing national income from the agricultural and industrial sectors.
The report explained that over the past two decades, the cotton crop witnessed a decline in its net per-acre return to the extent that led to the majority of farmers refraining from growing it and turning to growing other, more profitable crops, such as vegetables, fruits, and medicinal and aromatic plants, and exporting them, in light of the price, production, and manufacturing policies for the crop. .

In addition to the weak financial ability of Egyptian spinning companies to pay the price of cotton to farmers, which led to textile and garment companies importing cotton from abroad.

The report stated that the area planted with cotton declined to about 132 thousand acres in 2016, which led to the inability of local production to meet the required needs of long-staple Egyptian cotton needed for the textile industry sector in Egypt and export requirements, which led to an increase in the quantities imported from abroad. Pointing out the problems faced by cotton farmers in the process of marketing the crop.