Egypt’s Minister of Agriculture Alaa Farouk stressed the importance of cooperation in the agricultural sector with other BRICS countries, ahead of the 17th BRICS Summit running from Sunday to Monday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Egypt, one of several countries to join the BRICS group last year, is looking for detailed and fruitful discussions about agricultural cooperation during this year’s BRICS summit.
“Food security has become a priority for most countries especially with the recent geopolitical volatility,” Farouk told China Global Television Network (CGTN).
“BRICS countries accounts for 59 percent of the world’s population. The cultivated land of BRICS countries accounts for about 33 percent of cultivated land globally. It has 39 percent of clean water resources worldwide and has the largest number of small farms in the world at an average size of of 4.8 acres (nearly 2 hectares) per farm. BRICS nations produce 1.24 billion tons of grains a year. That’s 44 percent of global production,” Farouk said.
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Noting the bloc’s global influence, Farouk said that Egypt has signed several memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with BRICS members over the past two years, particularly in agricultural trade and scientific collaboration.
“The truth is we signed several MOUs with BRICS members in the last two years. We started exporting mango to China and other BRICS countries. There are partnerships in science, education and expertise sharing,” he said.
