The chairperson of the Agricultural Bank of Egypt (ABE), El Sayed El Kosayer, and Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed Abdel Atti have both signed a joint cooperation protocol in the field of funding irrigation projects across the country.
According to El Kosayer, the bank will fund the projects of irrigation and agriculture, according to this protocol within the framework of its role in achieving the rural and agricultural development, pointing out that each project will be funded in accordance with its nature through the various programmes available in the bank.
He added, in an exclusive statement to Daily News Egypt, that the bank will also fund agricultural projects that contribute to rationalising the use of water and developing irrigation tools in old and new agricultural lands, in way that increases the level of productivity and rationalises the use of fertilisers and pesticides.
El Kosayer pointed out that the bank will also contribute to promoting marketing the products of the projects to be funding through this protocol.
According to Abdel Atti, this protocol comes with the aim of documenting the cooperation methods between the government, represented in the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, and the ABE, in order to find a patriotic funding method for agricultural projects through expanding the use of modern irrigation methods to rationalise the consumption of water and improve the quality of agricultural products.
He noted that the cooperation is a step taken towards water projects that support sustainable agricultural development and increasing the economic income, hence supporting the national product, through providing the necessary funding for developing and modernising the irrigation system, as well as maximising the use of the water unit to meet the needs of the agricultural sector.
He added that the cooperation mechanisms focus on the ministry recommending all ready and qualified projects that require the implementation of irrigation networks, in addition to conducting technical studies and implementing designs for the aspects that could be further developed, in addition to preparing contracts and putting forwards the necessary technical specifications and documents, while supervising the system of implementation and continuous follow up for the operations required to be implemented. This would happen in light of coordination and cooperation with all the concerned authorities in order to move forwards in the implementation works in reality and overcome all obstacles.
