The National Council for Women (NCW) signed a cooperation protocol with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation to plan and implement several joint activities under the UNIDO project “From cotton seed to clothing”. The initiative covers all the phases of cotton cultivation: before, during, and after harvest for the 2018-2019 season.
The cooperation protocol includes organising training courses for female farmers and cotton collectors in Kafr El-Sheikh and Damietta farms, with particular emphasis on the management of cotton pollution and other topics related to its cultivation, as well as organising study tours for women farmers and universities, as well as training in experimental cotton cutting in Kafr El-Sheikh and Damietta to promote sustainable cotton production
Commenting on this protocol, Maya Morsi, president of the NCW said that this cooperation is to protect female Egyptian farmers and the cotton industry at the same time.
“We cannot address the issue of Egyptian cotton without mentioning women, as they are the main pillar of the agricultural sector in Egypt,” Morsi stressed.
For her part, Giovanna Ceglie, director of UNIDO’s regional office in Egypt, thanked Morsi for the mutual cooperation and stressed on the need to pay attention to female farmers, calling on buisnesswomen and designers to enrich the quality of Egyptian cotton and to take advantage of all the benefits obtained from the various sectors involved in cotton production.
Last July, Minister of Trade and Industry Tarek Kabil and Minister of Agriculture Abdel Moneim El-Banna signed a €1.5m ($1.74m) cooperation protocol with Ceglie and Felice Longobardi, head of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, to develop Egyptian cotton production. Prime Minister Sherif Ismail attended the signing.
