Egypt: soon bread with sweet potato to reduce wheat imports

A bread seller in the Old Cairo district in Cairo, Egypt, March 22, 2022. © Amr Nabil/AP

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1 min

Egypt plans to make bread with sweet potato to reduce its dependence on imported wheat.

According to the Supply Minister who announced the news, the potato will be added to the flour and will reduce wheat imports by one million tonnes.

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With our correspondent in Cairo,

According to the Minister of Supply, the sweet potato that will be added is a variety genetically modified by the research center of the Ministry of Agriculture so as not to alter the taste of the bread.

A life-size experiment was successfully attempted for a month in the province of Oasis.

► To read also: Concern of Egyptians after the announcement of the cessation of Indian wheat exports

The bread to which the sweet potato will be added is the subsidized pancake sold at a quarter of a euro cent, or 15 times less than its real cost.

A bread to which 70 million Egyptians are entitled and which constitutes the main food of some 30 million who live below the poverty line.

As a result, the Egyptian consumes an average of 230 kilos of wheat per year, twice as much as the world average.

Egypt, which imported nearly 8 million tonnes of wheat from Russia and Ukraine, must imperatively find new suppliers before the end of the year if it wants to avoid food riots.

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