Food

Wheat experiment renews Egypt's hope to achieve food self-sufficiency

Egyptian scientists recently claimed they have successfully applied a new method to bring an extra wheat harvest in winter, raising new hope to end the country's wheat shortage and achieve food self-sufficiency.

"Planting wheat twice a year will double the production, save water, and open the door to achieve food self-sufficiency in Egypt," Hisahm Mustafa, chairman of the National Center for Water Researches (NCWR), told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Egyptian farmers originally grow wheat once a year in November and harvest it in May. The whole process takes around six months depending on the nature of the soil, water availability and temperature.

The technique to achieve two wheat harvests a year is "vernalization," which means freezing the seeds during germination to accelerate the flowering process, Mustafa said.

[Full article here | Photo by Sleepy Claus]

Good practices and European projects map

@AgoraMedSpring

Good practices and European projects map

About the author

Medspring Agora team's picture

The Euro-Mediterranean AGORA is a way to engage the civil society in the institutional and policy dialogue on research and innovation with the aim of becoming an integral part of the decision making and governance processes.

The Agora is an important component of the broader MEDSPRING project, supported by the European Union with the aim of strengthening the Euro-Mediterranean dialogue and cooperation on research and innovation.