EBDA in September 2024
Marketing and Media Team
EBDA participates in SAHARA EXPO 2024
For the first time, EBDA participated in Sahara Expo 2024 with a holistic and sustainable booth, showcasing our dedication to biodynamic and organic agriculture. The booth preparations took place over three days, with support from Sekem’s workshop, led by Felix Auth, who also helped design the booth. Our team of 19 EBDA members, including two agronomists, one media representative each day and colleagues from various departments worked hard to engage with over 500 visitors, including 50 farmers eager to join our association.
We distributed informative flyers and a pest control catalog to interested visitors. Additionally, our partners, Isis Organic and Organic Egypt, contributed significantly to the booth’s success by providing services and sharing valuable knowledge with attendees. The combined efforts of all teams ensured a successful and impactful presence at the expo. Check full media coverage through this link.
EBDA Social Media
- YouTube: 31 new learning videos uploaded.
- Facebook: 2 Learning Videos were sponsored and ran a page’s likes campaign which resulted in gaining 1.5K new followers. Our total followers now are 11K .
- LinkedIn: we gained organically new 170 followers resulting in a total of 4,078K followers.
Cotton Harvest in Fayoum:
Annually, SEKEM-EBDA celebrates the cotton harvest season and the celebration was at the end of August and that day we started the cotton harvest with Mr. Helmy, Fayoum farmers, HU university employees, NatureTex and EBDA.
Then the group listened to calm music and then Eng. Ibrahim Saad’s welcoming speech to the farmers and guests and then Mr. Helmy’s motivational speech to Fayoum farmers and the celebration began with singing for cotton.
Faiyum Carbon Credit Ceremony
Economy of Love proudly hosted the “Climate Heroes Ceremony” in Faiyum governorate rewarding 16 small-holder farmers. The ceremony was held during the 3rd edition of the Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Maps Festival supported by GIZ . 7 of the farmers were awarded by the Land Banking Group.
The event was attended by Dr. Alaa Azouz, Head of the Agricultural Extension Sector and National Coordinator of the Agricultural Innovation Project on behalf of Mr. Alaa Farouk, Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, Dr. Hisham El-Helbawy, Assistant Minister of Local Development; Dr. Ahmed Al-Ansari, Governor of Fayoum; Dr. Mohamed Hani Ghoneim, Governor of Beni Suef; Lieutenant General Engineer Sherif Ahmed Saleh, Chairman of the Upper Egypt Development Authority, Mr. Helmy Abouleish, Chairman of SEKEM Group and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Heliopolis University and others.
WATDEV 2nd Training Module
The EBDA team who are involved in the WATDEV project, in collaboration with the Faculty of Engineering at Heliopolis University, is actively engaged in the ‘Second Module on Precision Agriculture’ at the CIHEAM Bari Institute, as part of the WATDEV Projects training program. This module mainly focused on exchanging knowledge and insights. With 15 representatives from Kenya, Ethiopia, and Egypt, along with participants from Sudan.
EBDA signs an MoU with IMAR for Engineering and Consultancy
In collaboration with the CFC, EBDA signed an MoU with Imar for Engineering and Consultancy at HU, to develop EoL carbon projects in Saudi Arabia, which marks the first EoL voluntary carbon credit project in Saudi Arabia. This partnership developed to foster sustainability and carbon reduction, aims to expand EoL projects and further our shared commitment to environmental progress.
NBE for Issuing MEEZA Cards Progress
Together with the EBDA agronomists, the NBE team successfully issued 1331 Meeza cards for farmers from a total 1500 Meeza cards delivered by the NBE team. 48 PGS farmers’ audits have received a total amount of 37,000 EGP as intensives for their efforts.
EBDA Expands Partnerships with National NGOs
Through NGO partnerships, regional engagement levels vary. In Fayoum, 12 of 14 NGOs are keen to collaborate with EBDA. Beni Suef has 20 interested NGOs out of 31, though 6 remain unreachable. In Minia, 23 out of 57 NGOs have expressed interest, but 8 are unreachable. In Asuit, 17 of 39 NGOs want to participate. Aswan has 7 interested NGOs out of 9, and Sohag has 19 interested NGOs out of 47. A survey at the SEKEM farm is ongoing to gather insights and strengthen connections with farmers through these NGO collaborations.
EBDA Research and Development
In continuation of the production of wood vinegar, a 60-liter container of wood vinegar was produced for use in experiments (water conservation – fertilization – control) on various crops.
PGS Progress
September 2024 was a highly successful month, with 271 audits completed across 271 farms in the Wahat Bahraya, Luxor, Qena, Aswan, and Sohag governorates. An additional 747 audits are scheduled for October, November, and December 2024, bringing the total number of audits for this round to 1,018.
Training on Organic Pest Management
participants engaged in comprehensive sessions focused on organic Pest Management strategies. The first day involved welcoming the trainees, assessing their knowledge levels, and introducing the concept of IPM, including the use of natural predators and monitoring techniques to minimize chemical pesticide reliance. On the second day, the discussion deepened with practical applications of pest control methods, the introduction of biocides, and a comparison of chemical versus biological control measures, emphasizing sustainable practices. The third day was hands-on, with trainees selecting representative crops—tomatoes, wheat, and grapes—to develop integrated pest control programs tailored to each crop. The program concluded with practical demonstrations and assessments, reinforcing the participants’ understanding of sustainable pest management and its positive impact on crop yields and overall agricultural health. This training equipped them with the knowledge and skills to implement eco-friendly practices in their farming operations.
EBDA Farmers’ Growth September, 2024
EBDA extension engineers successfully registered 151 new farms in September that included 1009 farmers with a total area of 3,169 acres.
EBDA total registered information from January until September, 2024 as follows:
- Total farms: 2,742
- Total farmers: 13.237
- Total area in acres: 50,853
Farmers’ Training Supported by: SI-EoL project
Farmers’ Training Supported by: Common Land Project
