October 19, 2020
Ahmed M. Rezk - UNIDO National Programme Officer in Egypt
After the disruption of global value chains (GVCs) due to COVID-19, there is a growing interest in shortening food supply chain (SFSC) and promoting local food for local markets. The SFSC is an alternative system able to provide some “functions” that the GVCs model seems not be able to provide. The SFSC can have a range of spillover effects, from economic benefits to both producers and consumers, to strengthening social relations, preserving the environment, improving nutritional aspects, enhancing local development. Moreover, SFSC contributes to diversify food production systems and marketing channels, allowing for higher resilience in front of global market disruption.
In this context, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) is organizing a National Contest for Terroir Food Products in Egypt. Terroir products or typical food products are products that have a specific link to the territory, the culture and the population knowhow and represent an extraordinary tool for promoting local economic development and strengthening the link between producers and the final consumer.
The Contest of terroir products, based on the Swiss model[1] and already duplicated with success in Morocco and Tunisia[2], aims at showcasing and familiarizing consumers about typical food products, improving product quality to meet consumer demand and expectations, and facilitating market access of these products. The National Contest is a unique tool linking different institutions, producers, consumers and buyers with the ultimate goal of developing and promoting typical and local food products. In the framework of this Contest, UNIDO has undertaken in close cooperation with the national and local stakeholders, a mapping of the Egyptian Terroir/ Typical food products to identify the potential of each Governorate in terms of products that could be eligible for the contest.
The mapping has been structured in four stages: the methodology adaptation to the Egyptian context, the data collection, the evaluation, and the validation workshops with national and local stakeholders.
The first phase allowed the methodology to be adapted and finalized, taking into account Egypt specificities. The research team developed the products identification criteria and the product sheet, based on four criteria which are typicity, physical anchoring to territory, historical anchoring to territory, and collective dimension and link to local culture. In addition to that, a product sheet was developed to facilitate the data collection phase. This document constitutes a summary of questions on the type of products, physical characteristics, reasons of products uniqueness, historical reference of their existence, links to culture and heritage, how are the products made and how that knowledge is transferred.
The second step has been the data collection phase which combined both desk review and in-depth interviews. Several studies and research papers were analyzed to identify potential Egyptian Terroir food products. Additionally, a total of 42 in-depth interviews, including face to face and telephone interviews, were conducted with key and local informants involving agriculture experts, geographical indications experts and academics.
The third stage focused on the evaluation grid and scoring of the mapped products. The design of evaluation grid involved formulating assessment criteria for each identification criterion of the Terroir products, assigning weights for each identification criterion and distributing these weights over the assessment criteria, then putting down the grading scale. The initial scoring of the mapped products was conducted by the project team in collaboration with academic sectoral experts. A synthetic presentation of the criteria and weights applied is presented here below:
Figure 1: Terroir products identification criteria weights
Finally, the analysis was concluded by a validation phase to ensure the reliability of research findings. This phase aims at enriching the initially identified lists with more traditional food products that could be potential for Terroir products, validating the scores that were put by the project team, and finalize in a participatory manner the scoring the products for which the project team did not have enough information that did not have enough information to be scored prior the validation workshops. The main findings were presented nationally in Cairo and four validation workshops were organized in Alexandria, Fayoum, Aswan and Damietta (2 of them organized remotely because of Covid-19 restrictions).
Figure 2: Fayoum Validation Workshop, March 2020
The study shows that Egypt offers a very unique food landscape with 426 identified Terroir products located in 27 governorates. The mapped products are dominated by fruits and trees (e.g. dates, fig, sugar cane, doum palm, and mango) which constitutes more than 50% of the identified Terroir list. The second prominent category is vegetables, legumes and tubers (e.g. green chickpeas, homos el-halawa, molokheya siwa, chili pepper, and Egyptian lupins) constituting 16% of the identified products. And third category comprises grains and breads (e.g. abareya bread, fayesh sa’eedy, feteer meshaltet, barley matrouh and makhrouta) accounting for 9% of the identified products.
The territory with the highest Terroir products is Siwa Oasis, where the landscape is flooded with palm dates of unique endemic varieties and olive trees with local landraces, in addition to possessing an extensive local know-how in both cultivation and food processing that has been affected by the authentic cultural roots of locals.
Figure 3: Terroir Products Classification in Egypt, by Category in Number
In this context, UNIDO in coordination with national counterparts calls for the organization of the National Contest for Terroir Food Products in Egypt as a promotional tool for traditional food products. The promotion of typical products has many advantages: collective brand image, improving income for the population, preserving or creating jobs in the regions, enhance products’ quality, maintaining an authentic culture alive, etc. The contest and the Market associated to it, are also an opportunity to gather all the local products of a country in one place. Moreover, it allows to establish a positive competition between different products of the same country by triggering the participation of all the regions and territories concerned.
Download the complete mapping here
“The views expressed in this article are based on the author’s experience and on prior research and do not necessarily reflect the views of UNIDO”
Sources:
[1] For more information about Swiss Local Food Competition & Market, Please visit https://www.concours-terroir.ch/ & for the Moroccan Traditional Products Contest, Please visit https://pampat.ma/en/capacity/moroccan-competition-for-origin-linked-products/
[2] National Contest of Local Food Products to promote quality and market access https://tii.unido.org/news/national-contest-local-food-products-promote-quality-and-market-access
A video describing the methodology and results obtained in Morocco and Tunisia is available on https://youtu.be/dXaIKxWQMqQ
