Egypt is getting a USD 2 bn loan from the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and unnamed “partner organizations” to support small scale rural-farmers, Bloomberg reports.

Where the money’s going: The loan will be extended to the government until 2030 for “production, food storage and food transportation,” and to “link markets with smallholder” farmers, IFAD President Alvaro Lario told Bloomberg.

This is part of NWFE: The financing is part of the country’s Nexus of Water, Food and Energy (NWFE) program, for which IFAD is heading up the food component. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is taking the lead on the energy component of the program while the African Development Bank will oversee financing for water projects.

Stay tuned: The government should announce details at COP27 next week on the NWFE program, through which the International Cooperation Ministry will promote its pipeline of low-carbon projects to investors.

REMEMBER- Food security has become a pressing issue since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent global food prices spiraling, highlighting the precarity of food supply chains for import-reliant countries like Egypt. We are the world’s biggest importer of wheat and sourced more than 80% of our grain imports from Russia and Ukraine before the conflict broke out in February. Grain prices had cooled over the summer thanks to the UN-brokered Black Sea pact allowing shipments to exit Ukrainian ports — but pressures could return after Russia this week called off the agreement.