Tarek Shafey
8 min readDec 12, 2021

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Medicinal and Aromatic Plants: Egypt’s Great Opportunity

Flowers of chamomile, a medicinal & aromatic plant

Challenge and Opportunity

Egypt’s pivotal farming sector (12% of GDP and 20% of the workforce) is upended by global warming and new trade barriers, yet organic medicinal and aromatic plants are a lasting and profitable solution and opportunity.

Egypt’s famously equable and reliable climate is growing harsher, more volatile and severe weather-prone, while the rising Mediterranean Sea level causes its own problems. Salinization of soil and groundwater in Egypt’s very fertile north is inevitable, and will prevent the important corn crop, many fruit trees such as the successful citrus and mango trees, and many equally successful and important vegetables from growing there. This loss is compounded by an increasingly hot, dry and volatile climate more prone to severe heat and sandstorms, and colder or far rainier winter storms, all of which is causing harm. A new export barrier also arose in 2019, as the European Union (EU); Egypt’s main agricultural export market, banned imports of produce using chemical fertilizers starting in 2025. This is another challenge for Egypt, where the mainstay is nitrogenic fertilizers, and organic farming and the use of organic fertilizers remain limited.

Nevertheless, medicinal plants and “aromatic” ones (whose oil scents have health or beauty benefits), along with a number of trees and oil seeds, stand out as the ideal solution, and an excellent and enduring export opportunity and income earner. Most of the plants are very water and space-saving and resistant to heat, cold, drought and salinity. Many suit the range of climate and soils in Egypt during the various seasons, with some native to Egypt. They are also easy to store and transport, in high global demand and very profitable. Most are not grown widely in Egypt, where a statist, import-substituting mindset prevails among the state, farmers and public opinion alike, preferring the growing of grains and fruit plants in summer, and other grains, animal feed and vegetables in winter, plus state price subsidies on staple grains, sugar, tea and edible oils. As explored below, change and reform are feasible, though, given good vision, political will, sensible measures, and good politics of persuasion plus practical behavioural incentives and disincentives.

The Best Choices

We begin with a look at Egypt’s changing climate. It is humid from Cairo northwards, but dry and hotter further south (July highs average 29 degrees Celsius on the north coast, 35 in Cairo and 42 in the south). Spring and autumn are still mostly sunny and pleasant, while winter (December-February) is cool in the north with a now less rainy season from November-March, and mild further south. Rain there is possible from October-April, but in increasingly rare and heavy downpours, which can cause damaging flash floods in parts of the Nile Valley south of Cairo, the Red Sea and Sinai regions. With global climate change come new challenges: severe heat and aridity in the south, sandstorms, and in the cool season, rural and now more widespread urban flash floods. Severe winter weather as well has worsened. Two Arctic storms within seven years brought snow to ex-urban Cairo after 112 years snow-free. The second of those storms was also very windy and caused deaths and physical damage. Two Mediterranean Sea cyclones (“Medicanes”); the first ever to reach Egypt (“Scott” in October 2019 and “Dragon” in March 2020) hit an unprepared Egypt hard, with heavy wind and sand, record rain and flooding. Dragon alone dumped nearly two years’ rainfall in just three days over much of Egypt, and together both storms caused at least 46 deaths and serious, under-reported physical damage. Lastly, rising Mediterranean Sea levels threaten to partially drown the Nile Delta in the north, which hosts most of the population and agriculture. The sector needs to adapt, and the coastline needs protection.

Looking at what best to grow, where and why, Egypt can be divided into seven quite straightforward growing zones, according to their climate and soils. Those zones suit a country total of 35 recommended medicinal and aromatic products (plants, trees and oil seeds). Those products are notably well-distributed among Egypt’s diverse areas and soils, all of which support many other, traditional agricultural products as supplementary options. The Sinai Peninsula central plateau and southern mountains are a special case: well-watered with winter rain, floodwater and snowmelt and cooler in climate, and medicinal and aromatic plants harvested in the warm summer. Three plants stand out: marjoram, rosemary, and marigold flowers. In mainland Egypt, there are three climatic areas: north, center and south. For each area there are two zones, with muddy soil in the very fertile Nile Valley and Delta, and loamy (mud/sand mix) or sandy soil outside them. Harvest seasons are usually two: spring/summer and fall/winter, with sowing typically having been a few months before. Each zone with each season has an optimal group of plants or products.

We begin with the north, which is moderately hot and humid in summer, and cool and usually frost-free in winter. A total of 11 plants are recommended. The main hurdle here is salinity, as plants must be salt-tolerant. This regrettably prevents the growing of plants such as marjoram, thyme, sesame, oregano, cumin, aloe vera, peppermint, spearmint, aloe vera and lemongrass, but fortunately all of them can be grown further south outside the summer, except marjoram which only suits summer in Sinai’s central plateau. Northern Sinai’s climate is very similar to northern mainland Egypt, and along with salt-tolerant vegetables and fruit trees, medicinal and aromatic plants would be an excellent substitute for the many fruit trees that will no longer be grown there.

In the Nile Delta, black pepper, saffron, jasmine and rose flowers can all be grown in summer, plus arugula in winter. Outside the Delta, the soil favors anise, dill, basil, stevia (an excellent sugar substitute), licorice, vanilla, and sage flowers in summer. Choices in winter are limited to arugula plus salt-tolerant vegetables and fruit trees, and with potatoes and wheat salt-sensitive, quinoa emerges as a pivotal and superior winter crop for this region and staple grain for all Egypt. Useful oil scents can be extracted from olive tree leaves, and parts of citrus fruits and their trees, but the salt-sensitive citrus trees have no future in Egypt’s saline north. A standout medicinal plant is green ginger, a known scorpion and snake repellent which can only grow wild on small irrigation canal banks south of Cairo. It can safely be pumped as liquid solution in Delta canals to kill ova of bilharzia, a common disease there. The plant extract also kills breast cancer cells.

Moving on to central Egypt, there are two hurdles: greater heat and aridity, and winter frosts. Winter is mild and sunny by day, but chilly at night. Salinity is not a problem here, and meanwhile three of Egypt’s five main Western Desert oases, along with areas of considerable groundwater reserves, are in this zone. The other two main oases are in the southern zone, and there are other farmed areas in many locations in various parts of the Western Desert. A total of 10 plants and oil seeds are feasible. In the Nile Valley, the spring/summer harvest climate and soil favor sesame, cumin, oregano and thyme, while in winter there’s not much choice, but the main winter crop is alfalfa as livestock feed, and that is satisfactory for now. Outside the Nile Valley there is more choice in winter: fenugreek, chamomile and lavender flowers, or valuable oil seeds such as canola, mustard and safflower. There is limited choice of medicinal or aromatic plants in spring/summer in this region, but loamy/sandy soil-friendly summer crops such as melon or eggplant are perfectly satisfactory and profitable, or alternatively growing trees, including wood trees such as pecan, Australian casuarina, eucalyptus and acacia, and Senegalese khaya.

In the south, the hurdle is the fierce summer heat and aridity, while winter is sunny, pleasant and usually frost-free and salinity levels are low. For spring/summer, hardly any small seasonal plants can withstand the heat and aridity, but six heat-hardy trees with great medicinal benefits can be grown in this region: neem, doum palm, hibiscus, moringa, clove and tamarind. Neem and clove deserve special mentions. Northern Indian neem has great health and environment benefits, including insect and pest control, soil fertilization and desalinization (which give the trees an important potential role in Egypt’s saline north), air cooling and purification, and sequestration of carbon and polluting gases, while neem oil has multiple, proven health benefits. Neem trees suit all of Egypt, although young ones need some protection from winter frosts in central Egypt and strong winter winds in the north. Clove trees need deep, fertile soil and good watering to survive, along with shade when they are young. Regarding fall/winter plants, a total of five are best: peppermint and spearmint (as single cool-season plants) and lemongrass in the Nile Valley, and black seed and aloe vera outside it. For summer plants, fine choices include eggplant, okra and peanuts, or alternatively growing trees.

Making it Happen

The plants’ climate adaptability, water efficiency and profit advantages are clear, but it will take time and efforts to achieve them. It starts with vision and conviction. Egypt’s universal price subsidies for food items mentioned above need to be replaced by direct, targeted and conditional support to deserving poor families, as previously done with great success in Brazil and Mexico. Priority would shift from food import substitution to export cash crop growing, which would boost rural incomes and generate revenue and profits for exporters. Taxes on the latter would help pay for the much more cost-efficient cash support regime. Much persuasion and awareness campaigns at many levels are needed to change a long-entrenched mindset and behavior. Next is the growing process, which needs to be organic and use compost (organic fertilizer) for much higher productivity and healthy, exportable produce. Fortunately, plentiful top-quality compost plus biogas (a perfect, inexpensive and climate-friendly fuel) can be generated from Egypt’s 48–50 million tons of unprocessed agricultural, animal and organic solid waste.

Media and personal-visit campaigns are necessary to persuade farmers all over Egypt to switch to growing medicinal and aromatic plants. Field advising is very important, as many farmers are unfamiliar with many of the plants, as is proper geographic zoning and regulation to optimize plant growing as explained above. Farmers will need to form cooperatives to pool resources, and buy and lease agricultural machinery for higher productivity and profits. Also important are long-term, fixed, reliable and mutually binding agreements between farmers and buyers, so as to ensure reliable, long-term growing of the plants, which will need packaging, processing and exporting. All of those are lucrative businesses. Attention is needed to strict pre-export inspection, standardization and quality control, as well as earning international quality control certifications, effective marketing, distribution and enhancement of Egypt’s export penetration of existing and potential markets, bolstered by actively developing better trade relations with those countries.

Last is the knowledge base and human infrastructure for sustained success in that field. Research on optimizing growing those plants in Egypt is very important, and special credit is due Asyut University in central Egypt for its pioneering field research on growing the healthy canola oil seeds as a winter crop outside the Nile Valley in that region. Research needs funding, readily available physical facilities, qualified and well-paid staff, the cutting of red tape, policy support by central and provincial government officials, and a good work environment that rewards merit, innovation and solid, tangible research results over seniority, office politics and political connections. Universities and research centers, especially the flagship National Agricultural Research Center in Giza, all have an important role to play. Lastly, education and specialization in medicinal and aromatic plants are needed for graduates of agricultural colleges in Egypt’s universities, to prepare a cadre of qualified researchers, industry leaders and field advisors. Also needed is this specialization in secondary school-level agriculture vocational diplomas, plus certifications for workers in factories processing those plants and exporting their valuable products. To close, Egypt should not miss this chance.

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Tarek Shafey

Business & policy analyst since 1988 at The World Bank (DC), The Arab Fund (Kuwait) & others. MBA in 1993, & six books & regular articles published since 2013.