National Wheat Day | 2-day workshop

Date: February 13th and February 14th
Time: 9:00 AM - 2:30 PM | Cairo, Egypt time
Venue: St. Regis Hotel – Almasa: Turquoise Hall 

The Academy of Science, Research and Technology (ASRT) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) organized a workshop under the title of "National Wheat Day". The workshop was held over two days, on February 13^th and February 14^th, at the St-Regis Al-Massa Hotel in the New Administrative Capital.
This event was held in response to an official assignment directed from the Presidential Office to ASRT, to arrange for a collaborative workshop whereby national and international experts can come together to discuss the prospects of the wheat value chain in Egypt, and provide a scope for way forward. Wheat is a strategic commodity and major source of calorie for Egyptians. About half of this wheat demand is satisfied through imports and recurring shocks, including the recent Russian-Ukraine crisis, continue to affect wheat trade and supply chains. These recurring global shocks necessitate immediate and longer-term responses to ensure sustainable and healthy diets and food systems. This event contributes to this broader objective.
This two-day event was divided into successive sessions across the following four themes:

1. Wheat production: This session discussed wheat production potential and constraints. This will address improved breeding technologies to enhance wheat varieties.
2. Trade dynamics: This session paid a closer look at external and internal wheat trade dynamics.
3. Consumption patterns: This session addressed wheat consumption patterns in Egypt and the subsidy policy landscape.
4. Policy recommendations and way forward: A review of some of the proposed research gaps and interventions.

See photo album

National Whaet day in the media:

AGENDA

Moderator

Dr. Amr Farouk, Vice President, the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology	Fatma Abdelaziz, Senior Research Associate, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Day one: 13^th of February

WELCOMING REMARKS

Dr. Kibrom Abay Egypt Country Program Leader, IFPRI	Dr. Mahmoud Sakr President, the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT)
Mr. Aly Abousabaa CGIAR Regional Director, Central and West Asia, and North Africa, and Director General, the International center for Agriculture Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA)	Dr. Leslie Reed Mission, Director, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Egypt
Deputy Minister, Dr. Ibrahim Ashmawy Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade (MSIT)	H.E. Al Sayed Al Qusier Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation (MALR), Egypt

H.E. Dr. Ayman Ashour Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, (MoHESR), Egypt

Day one: 13^th of February

SESSION 1:

Domestic Wheat Policy Dr. Mohamed Sulieman, President of The Agriculture Research Center (ARC)	Climate change impacts on the Egyptian national wheat production Dr. Mohamed Fahim, Advisor to the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Director of Climate Change Information Center, (MALR)
Wheat Genetics And R&D Dr. Ahmed Fawzy El Kot, Wheat research department, Field Crops Research Institute, (ARC) (See slides)	Wheat Breeding And Lessons Learned Dr. Wuletaw Tadesse, Principal Scientist - Spring Bread Wheat Breader, (ICARDA) (See slides)
The role of private sector in wheat breeding Mr. Yousef Fayyad, Nice Company for wheat breeding, Egypt	Strengthening the capacity of domestic value chains in India and lessons learned for Egypt to enhance traceability of wheat Dr. Venkat Maroju, Traceability solutions, India (See slides)
Q&A Session

SESSION 2
WHEAT TRADE DYNAMICS
A closer look at external and internal trade dynamics

The supply chain of wheat and bread Dr. Ibrahim Ashmawy, Chairman of the Internal Trade Development Authority and the Chairman of the Egyptian Commodity Exchange	Wheat imports, food security & vulnerability & lessons learned for Egypt Mr. Jakob Rauschendorfer, FAO
The use of artificial intelligence to determine wheat imports. Existing private sector forecasting tools to improve risk management, and integrate global prices Dr. Anil Kishore, Independent Commodity Researcher (See slides)	Existing private sector forecasting tools to improve risk management, and integrate global prices Mr. Salman Haider, Co-founder, Agrimandi and Commodities Private Limited, India (See slides)
Q&A Session & Closing Remarks Master of Ceremony Dr. Mahmoud Sakr, President, ASRT Dr. Kibrom Abay, IFPRI Egypt Dr. Ibrahim Ashmawy Chairman of the Internal Trade Development Authority

AGENDA

Day two: 14^th of February

WELCOMING REMARKS

Kibrom Abay, Egypt Country Program Leader, IFPRI
Mahmoud Sakr, President, ASRT

SESSION 3
WHEAT CONSUMPTION PATTERNS
A discussion on wheat consumption patterns in Egypt and the subsidy policy landscape

 

The subsidy system implications on the supply chain of wheat and bread in Egypt Dr. Ibrahim Ashmawy, Chairman of the Internal Trade Development Authority, Ministry of Internal Trade and Supply, Egypt	Food Consumption patterns in Egypt Dr. Kibrom Abay, Egypt Country Program Leader, IFPRI (See slides)
Egyptian households bread consumption patterns Dr. Gihan Fouad, Director, National Nutrition Institute, Egypt (See slides)	The Egyptian subsidy policy landscape and impacts on household consumption patterns Dr. Sherine Al-Shawarby, Professor of Economics, Cairo University (See slides)
Wheat Alternatives Dr. Maher Maghraby, Professor, Agricultural Research Center (ARC) (See slides)
Q&A Session

SESSION 4:
POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS AND WAY FORWARD
A review of some of the proposed research gaps and interventions that may require policy reform or donor funding.

An Agricultural Policy Review of Egypt & Outlook for 2023 Dr. Adel El-Beltagy, Chair of the International Dryland Development Commission (IDDC)| Professor, Ain Shams University (TBC)	Policies to attract FDI and innovation in the wheat value chain Dr. Ilyas Abdelrahman, International advisor, Wheat value chains, India (See Slides)
Private sector investment and way forward Eng. Mostafa el Nagary, President of agriculture committee, Egyptian Businessmen Association	Update on development programs to strengthen Egypt’s Food and Nutrition Security World Bank (TBC)
Q&A Session
Closing Remarks Master of Ceremony: Dr. Mahmoud Sakr, President, ASRT Dr. Kibrom Abay, IFPRI Egypt Dr. Adel El-Beltagy, Chair of the International Dryland Development Commission (IDDC)