Egypt sees 1.3 mln acres to cultivate wheat in Sudan

May 8, 2008 (CAIRO) — Egypt has identified an area of about 2 million acres (800,000 hectares) on the border with Sudan where Egypt and Sudan could grow wheat in a joint project, Agriculture Minister Amin Abaza said on Thursday.

The land is in the Arqin area, straddling the Nile close to the border town of Wadi Halfa, and the land is split between 700,000 acres in Egyptian territory and 1.3 million acres in Sudan, the minister told Reuters.

“Through this land we could start to bring about the dream of self-sufficiency in grains and tackle the increase in the international price of grain, especially wheat,” he added.

Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif said a proposal for a joint wheat project covering 1 million acres on the border would be submitted at a meeting with Sudan in Cairo on May 23.

Sudanese presidential adviser Nafie Ali Nafie, who discussed wheat projects in Cairo earlier this week, said it would cost $2 billion to reclaim and develop enough land to grow 2 million tonnes of wheat a year. The cost would be half of the current international price for the crop.

Egypt grows more than 7 million tonnes of wheat a year and imports more than 6 million. Sudan imports 2 million tonnes of wheat a year, Abaza said.

The minister said it would take between 3 million and 4 million extra acres of land to cover the wheat deficits of the two countries combined.

(Reuters)