The Problem
Building up on the previous efforts of the food strategy, Acumen Consulting was contracted to work on a second food sector development strategy for and Egyptian ministry. The aim of this strategy was to continue working towards analyzing the value chain bottlenecks which are preventing Egyptian food SMEs from exporting. Furthermore, this strategy took a forward-looking approach, by focusing in part on identifying agricultural, processing, as well as crop alternatives to mitigate some of the imminent water and resource scarcity issues that will be face by Egypt’s food and agricultural sector in the future.
The Approach
The first phase of the project involved collecting both quantitative and qualitative data on the different food sub sectors in order to build a comprehensive matrix and score food products. Based on the results of this matrix and meetings with relevant stakeholders, a group of food value chains was selected for further research. During the second phase, workshops were conducted with key producers of the prioritized food sub-sectors to identify industry challenges and value chain bottlenecks. The field analysis was supplemented by desk research on the different food products, to identify potential export markets and ways to improve branding and packaging. Additionally, research was carried out in order to identify environmentally sustainable alternatives to wheat and sugar.
