(KPIs)

The agriculture sector has numerous Comparative and Competitive Advantages, the most significant of which are as follows:

• Climate: Egypt’s climate allows for extended and additional agricultural seasons, enabling the cultivation of winter crops from November to May, when agricultural production is highly limited in Europe and Northern Asia.
• Geographical location: Egypt is located between Africa and Asia, on the Mediterranean Sea, and in the middle between East and West, which offers an ideal location for exporting agricultural products to all major consumer markets.
• Large local workforce: Egypt has the largest agricultural labor force in the region, benefiting from a large number of skilled workers and competitive wages.
• Digital transformation: The Egyptian government has prioritized automation and the adoption of innovative technologies to support local and international value chains, collaborating with international organizations to achieve these goals.
• The 100,000 Greenhouses Project: Enhancing agricultural production is pivotal to food security, and agricultural authorities are turning to greenhouses to bridge the food gap. This project is the largest of its kind in the Middle East.

The Egyptian government has adopted a new strategy to support the agriculture sector, which includes:

• Launching two initiatives to postpone due installments and exempt defaulters, from which 330,000 farmers have benefited, with total debts amounting to around EGP 8 billion. In addition, the “Bab Rizq” loan from the Agricultural Bank of Egypt was increased to EGP 50,000 instead of EGP 10,000, along with free insurance coverage. This initiative aims to fund poultry, sheep, and goat breeders, as well as others working in the trade of agricultural products.
• The implementation of the “contract farming system”, which guarantees farmers a minimum price (guaranteed price) at which they can sell their crops, ensuring profitability.

The Agriculture Sector is among the priority sectors eligible for incentives under Investment Law No. 72 of 2017. The investment incentives granted to the Agriculture Sector under this Law include:

• Special Incentives:

-  Pursuant to Article (11) of Investment Law No. 72 of 2017, projects established after this Law coming into force, in accordance with the investment map, are granted either a 50% or 30% deduction of the investment cost from the taxable net profits. Such incentives are applied based on the geographic distribution of economic activities (including agriculture sector), in line with the state's objective to encourage investment in specific economic sectors and develop certain geographic areas within the country.

-  As per Prime Minister Decree No. 104 of 2022, some activities within the Agriculture Sector are granted special incentives stipulated in Law No. 72 of 2017, as follows:

Activities Eligible for Special Incentives within the Geographical Areas of Sector (A)
-  Reclamation and cultivation of barren and desert lands, including lands reclamation and equipping of lands with basic facilities that make them suitable for cultivation, and   reclaimed lands cultivation, provided that these lands are designated for reclamation and   cultivation purposes and that the modern methods of irrigation are used in the cultivation process instead of flood irrigation
-  Breeding all kinds of livestock for the purposes of breeding or dairy production
-  Breeding of poultry.

Activities Eligible for Special Incentives within the Geographical Areas of Sector (B)
-  Fish farms, including marine cages, integrated fish farming, and marine hatcheries
-  Breeding all kinds of poultry, whether it is for the production of breeds, hatchery or for eggs production, fattening, or meat production
-  Breeding all kinds of livestock for fattening and red meat production.