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Can coffee be grown in Egypt?

Decades of experiments have proven that coffee crops can be grown on Egyptian soil.

A worker prepares an order at a cafe after authorities relaxed the coronavirus lockdown measures, Cairo, Egypt, June 27, 2020.
A worker prepares an order at a cafe after authorities relaxed the coronavirus lockdown measures, Cairo, Egypt, June 27, 2020. — Mohamed el-Shahed/AFP via Getty Images

CAIRO — Following multiple experiments since the 1980s to localize coffee cultivation, it has been shown that coffee crops can grow in Egyptian lands. 

Adel Abu al-Saud, head of the Horticultural Research Institute, which is affiliated with Egypt’s Ministry of Agriculture, said in a TV interview Oct. 2 that the experiments carried out by his center have proven that coffee beans can be grown in the country's climate.

The move is one of the first steps toward adopting an agricultural policy aimed at expanding coffee cultivation in Egypt amid global expectations that global coffee prices would increase.

Climate change poses a direct threat to the global production of coffee in its originating countries in Latin America and some African countries, due to weather fluctuations including droughts, hurricanes, high temperatures and severe frosts, which may reduce existing land for coffee crops by 50% before 2050, according to a report by the Inter-American Development Bank.

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