Video | Home-grown wheat, home-baked bread

Perceiving a threat to its strategic wheat reserves following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, the Egyptian government initially planned to turn to local production to close the gap, though it would later resort to additional wheat imports from the war-inflated export markets. The government mandated that farmers sell it a quota of 12 ardebs per feddan of wheat, or about 60 percent of their yield on average, at prices that this year fall well below those on the global market. In turn, this pressure on farmers has posed a threat to the private wheat reserves of many Egyptians in the countryside — from farmers to their extended families and village neighbors — who rely on storing wheat yearly and baking with its flour. Mada Masr spoke with two farmers in their fields and a housewife tending to her oven to learn more about what it means to them to store the wheat they grow for baking their daily bread.

[wonderplugin_video iframe="https://youtu.be/KaTqyEWRhUQ" lightbox=0 lightboxsize=1 lightboxwidth=960 lightboxheight=540 autoopen=0 autoopendelay=0 autoclose=0 lightboxtitle="" lightboxgroup="" lightboxshownavigation=0 showimage="" lightboxoptions="" videowidth=600 videoheight=400 keepaspectratio=1 autoplay=0 loop=0 videocss="position:relative;display:block;background-color:#000;overflow:hidden;max-width:100%;margin:0 auto;" playbutton="https://www.madamasr.com/wp-content/plugins/wonderplugin-video-embed/engine/playvideo-64-64-0.png"]