Tuesday 07 April 2026 – 11:02 AM
revealed Ministry of Agriculture And land reclamation, efforts of the Central Laboratory to examine and monitor potato production and export at the Agricultural Research Center, during last March.
Inspection of 252 thousand tons of potatoes prepared for export during March
Dr. Naglaa Balabel, director of the laboratory, confirmed that last March witnessed remarkable activity, especially after the development efforts that the laboratory witnessed recently, in addition to the digital and regulatory boom that was achieved to ensure the quality of Egyptian exports in global markets for the 2025-2026 season, in implementation of the directives of Alaa Farouk, Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, and under the supervision of Dr. Adel Abdel Azim, Head of the Agricultural Research Center.
The director of the laboratory revealed the intensification of microscopic examinations of table potatoes prepared for export, as efforts during the month of March resulted in the examination of 9,414 samples, with a total quantity amounting to 252,406 tons, pointing out that thus the total number of samples examined from the beginning of the season until the end of March reached 24,692 samples, with a total quantity estimated at about 660,377 tons.
She added that as part of the careful monitoring of the crop in the lands (75 days old from planting), the laboratory examined about 989 samples for the winter and summer crops during the month of March alone, bringing the total number of samples visually examined for the two crops since the beginning of the season to 9,776 samples.
Balabil reviewed the pivotal role of modern technologies in monitoring areas free of brown mold, as about 350 satellite images were uploaded to follow up on winter and summer crop crops to monitor changes within the vacant areas in terms of: irrigation method, landscaping, and area, in addition to establishing 130 pivots, with a total area estimated at about 12,803 acres within the vacant areas, bringing the total number of pivots to 4,442 pivots, and the number of yards to 281 yards within the database. The geographical area and total area of vacant areas is 643 thousand acres.
The director of the laboratory indicated that the work of entering the data of winter and crop crops (export crops) for the 2025/2026 season in the geographic database for vacant areas, equivalent to 1,051 pivots, with an area of 85,000 acres, is continuing, in addition to entering data for summer crops for the 2025/2026 season in the geographic database for vacant areas, equivalent to 440 pivots, with an area amounting to 34,000 acres, and the verification of the crops is still ongoing.
She said that analyzes are also being carried out: soil salinity, chlorophyll, as well as the water content of the shoots, using remote sensing technology for winter and summer shoot crops, in addition to entering field withdrawal data: winter, vacant areas, and summer, to date for the 2025/2026 season in the geographic database for vacant areas, equivalent to 8,505 samples, in addition to entering summer field withdrawal data for the 2025/2026 season into the geographic database for vacant areas, equivalent to 8,505 samples. 1268 samples.
She added that the harvest for the winter season of the 2025/2026 season is also being monitored, as the harvest is monitored daily, in addition to reviewing the harvest quantities of each company compared to the examined quantities received by the central laboratory to ensure that the examined quantity does not exceed the harvested quantity.
