EGP 247 million allocated for veal project – official

Deputy Agriculture Minister Mona Mehrez said the State attaches great importance to the national project to revive veal and back small breeders and has allocated 247 million pounds for this purpose.

Speaking to MENA, Mehrez said livestock, fisheries and poultry projects were listed by Prime Minister Sherif Ismail among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Breeders owning small farms of 100 livestock heads were encouraged to expand their farms by offering them loans from the Egyptian Agricultural Bank and the National Bank of Egypt.

Egypt imports 70 percent of its needs of red meat to meet the demands of the local market but the percentage was markedly brought down this year thanks to campaigns launched by the government to vaccinate livestock against infectious diseases like Foot-and-mouth disease, she added.

As for the growing meat prices, she said prices depend on supply and demand. We seek a fair price for breeders who raise livestock to encourage them to continue in the business and at the same time we want a fair price that is affordable by consumers. (MENA)