The prices of poultry and beef increased madly before the month of Ramadan, as the kilo of poultry increased by LE3 on Thursday to reach LE26 for the live poultry, and LE31 for frozen poultry.
Beef reached LE145 per kilogram for locally produced beef and upwards of LE80 for the imported variety.
Al-Masry Al-Youm reported that the kilo of live poultry is sold by retailers at a price ranging between LE35 to LE40, and the frozen variety between LE40 to LE45.
Mohamed El Shafei, Vice President of the Poultry Federation, said that the total poultry produced is about 700,000 birds per day and that the Federation seeks to increase the production to 2.1 million birds per day to meet the needs of citizens during the month of Ramadan.
The Butchers’ Devision president Mohamed Wahba said the main reason behind meat price hikes is the lack of a government plan to develop and protect the animal wealth.
Egypt imports 60 percent of its meat needs and produces 40 percent locally, Wahba told Al-Masry Al-Youm.
He called on the government to support local products and solve the problems facing local meat production. He pointed out that shortage in cultivated land is behind the weakness of the domestic production of meat.
Despite the reclamation of large areas of land, encroachment on agricultural land and construction continues, he added.
Wahba called for doubling the size of cultivated land in Egypt.
Egypt currently has about 9 million feddans of cultivated land, which is almost the same size of agriculture land that existed in Egypt under late President Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1960 and served only 20 million citizens. Egypt’s population is currently 100 million, he pointed out.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm