EBDA in June 2025

Newsletter

October 8, 2025

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EBDA Communications

Field Production – Wahat Sekem Trip

Date of Visit: 27/5/2025 till 29/5/2025

Location: Wahat Sekem Farm

Objectives of the Trip:

Document Tree-Planting Initiative:
Capture the progress and impact of the trees planted on our farm as part of the Concrete sponsorship initiative. This included drone footage, interviews and scenic visuals to highlight the environmental and social value of the project.
Produce Learning Videos on New Crops:
Film a new series of educational content focusing on recently introduced crops at Wahat Sekem. The content aims to support the dissemination of best practices in sustainable agriculture.

Key Filming Activities:

Visual storytelling around the Concrete-sponsored trees ( team interviews, farmers interactions).
Educational filming on new crops with expert commentary from field agronomists.
Capturing sunrise and sunset visuals for improved aesthetic quality.
Drone shots to give a landscape-level perspective on the plantation and cropping systems.

Post-Production & Editing Progress

EBDA Achievements

Women’s Empowerment in Rural Egypt – EBDA and Organic Egypt collaborative project

As a progression of the collaborative project, Women’s Empowerment in Rural Egypt, between the EBDA and Organic Egypt, a follow up meeting with the field moderators was held on 18/6/2025 to ensure they achieve the objectives of the project appropriately and as timely to the project timeline as possible. The meeting highlighted their focus on the integrative health part of the project which is not the main focus of the project and a discussion took place on how to initiate and follow through with the other objectives of the project. One major challenge was finding an appropriate location for the women’s gathering as a loan box system was needed to be introduced to the groups and the moderators had preliminary locations which were discussed and evaluated to be confirmed as locations for the women’s activities to take place. A follow up meeting and future monthly meetings will take place to ensure clear and effective communication between the office coordinators and the field moderators.

EBDA Participated in the 2nd International Agri-Tech Forum

Time: 24 – 26 June 2025

Place: Movenpick hotel, Media Production City, 6th of October

Objective: Smart and green agriculture with an emphasis on digital innovation

EBDA’s role: Our association participated to showcase its work in sustainable and biodynamic agriculture as part of the representing one of the EU-Egyptian Projects in the Mediterranean region, especially, WATDEV project. Among the discussions and information explained about the WATDEV project and other 15+ projects implemented in Egypt only in the Agricultural sector, there were questions and discussions highlighting the progress with the “ Economy of Love “ standard concerning the EBDA goal and mission initiative for upscaling to 40,000 Egyptian Biodynamic farmers.

EBDA Research and Development

New research project focused on biochars benefits

EBDA in collaboration with Heliopolis University, are preparing to launch a new research project focused on biochar as a regenerative solution for soil health and climate resilience. This initiative aims to contribute to sustainable agricultural practices while enhancing carbon sequestration in organic farming systems.

This project is structured into three key work packages:

Project designing and development of a cost-effective, easy-to-operate, and environmentally friendly kiln for biochar production;
Field application and evaluation of biochar’s impact on soil fertility, microbial activity, and overall plant health;
Quantification of carbon sequestration potential per ton of agricultural waste converted into biochar.

Initial coordination and technical planning have begun, and the project is expected to move into implementation in the upcoming weeks.

EBDA Engineers’s Training

On Tuesday 3rd of June, the monthly meeting was held gathering all the engineers with Mr. Helmy in the Sekem school, in order to discuss their achievements and suggestions.

On Wednesday 4th of June, a group of 6 Engineers were attending a training interchangeably between Dr. Mouhamed Ibrahim (anti-bio) , Dr. Abdullah Kuraim and Dr. Ibrahim did a very good theatrical session , with the video exercise.

Also, Dr. Kuraim teached a session with the subject ( the cotton fertilization ) and made a session in the lab of El mizan about how to use the bio-fert product.

EBDA Information Technology

Technical Support for EBDA Financial Team
Provided continuous technical assistance to the EBDA farmers’ financial support team. Addressed and resolved system-related issues to ensure the effective use of data-driven tools for accurate input and reporting.
ERPNext System Optimization
Prepared a customized report utilizing the ERPNext data tool to enhance decision-making.
Kobo System – PGS Issue Resolution
Engaged in problem-solving activities to address and fix issues related to the Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) within the Kobo System, ensuring smooth and reliable functionality.

Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) Updates

Between May and June 2025, a total of 489 farms were successfully PGS-audited as part of the ongoing Economy of Love (EoL) PGS auditing round. These audits were carried out across 23 different governorates throughout Egypt, reflecting the wide geographic reach and growing engagement of farmers within the system.

The auditing process was conducted by 17 peer review committees, composed of 51 trained peer reviewers. These committees included farmers, engineers, and EBDA representatives who had previously undergone capacity-building programs to ensure the quality, transparency, and consistency of the peer review process. Each committee was responsible for conducting field visits, verifying compliance with EoL standards, and documenting findings through Kobo-based digital tools.

As the final step of this round, an additional 27 farms are scheduled to be audited in July in El-Wadi El-Gedid, which marks the completion of the auditing cycle across all targeted governorates. Upon completing this final phase, the EBDA will have reached over 500 farms audited under this cycle, contributing to the scaling up of biodynamic and sustainable practices across the country.

Economy of Love – Cultural Development

This month, the Heliopolis University Space of culture team organized a vibrant cultural initiative in Minia, for the EBDA farmers and their families in the Minia region. The event welcomed over 200 farmers and community members, offering an engaging program of talks and interactive sessions highlighting the social, economic, cultural, and environmental contributions of EBDA and the Economy of Love standard. These sessions were led by Eng. Ibrahim Saad and Eng. Naglaa Ahmed, who emphasized the organization’s impact and services. Adding a creative dimension to the gathering, the Space of Culture and Acting Team performed a theatrical play on the SEKEM Minia stage, celebrating the community’s spirit and the role of culture in sustainable development.

DoPay & NBE Project ProgressDoPay updates

Card issuance & Payments:

Since discussions between the DoPay team and National Bank of Egypt about improving performance and accelerating payments to farmers, governorate by governorate, The team successfully issued until June, 2025, a total number of 1,674 Dopay-meeza cards and 1388 NBE-meeza cards. The team is working together to resolve existing issues and develop plans for the next 2 quarters of 2025, additionally, to improve incoming data transfer. The EBDA summit for carbon ceremony event is scheduled on July 1st, 2025, to mark the EBDA climate heroes. The Dopay-EBDA team is working on the transfer of EoL carbon credits financial entitlements For 120 farmers , The Dopay team has been invited to participate in this significant occasion, during which 21 new issued cards will be distributed.