Cotton harvesting season officially started Thursday across Egypt.
Cultivated cotton crops reached 525,000 feddans, an increase of 180,000 feddans compared to last year.
Average production rates ranged between 6 and 7 kantars per feddan. Gross production is expected to reach 4 million kantars, compared with around 3 million kantars last year.
Agriculture and Reclamation Minister Salah Youssef said preliminary rates of harvesting in the city of Fayoum point to positive results.
He also mentioned that efforts to combat cotton-worms have been successful and that crop infection rates have dropped by 50 percent, compared with last season.
The minister added that there is no problem with an increase in cultivated crops, as cotton marketing companies and agricultural cooperatives have begun to buy crops from farmers at higher prices.
There has been an increase in demand of Egyptian cotton in international markets, he said.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
