The Minister of Supply discusses with the World Food Program joint work to enhance food security
Food securityis linked to the ability of communities to ensure that their members obtain sufficient, safe, and nutritious food in a stable manner, which makes dealing with it go beyond simply providing goods to building an integrated system that balances the availability of food, its prices, its quality, and the ability of families to access it.
As consumption patterns change and needs vary between groups and regions, the importance of developing tools capable of reading the reality of markets and food needs in an accurate and sustainable manner increases.
In this context, data and indicators are gaining increasing importance in formulating food-related policies, as they help to understand the transformations that affect the ability of families to obtain their needs, and allow interventions to be directed towards the groups most in need at the appropriate time.
The integration between the availability of goods, protecting purchasing power, and improving the quality of food and nutrition becomes one of the basic paths to enhancing food security and shifting food policies from responding to challenges to anticipating them.
In accordance with this approach, Dr. Sherif Farouk, Minister of Supply and Internal Trade, received Mrs. Rawad Halabi, Country Director of the World Food Program in Egypt, and her accompanying delegation, to discuss the start of implementation of the joint action plan between the Ministry and the Program for the period from July 2026 to July 2027, and to transform the agreed upon areas of cooperation into executive programs that contribute to supporting the Ministry’s efforts in developing the support system, enhancing food security and nutrition, and raising the efficiency of monitoring markets and services provided. For citizens.
Dr. Sherif Farouk confirmed that the Ministry is working to develop its tools for monitoring markets and decision-making based on more accurate and integrated data, enabling it to monitor price movements, the availability of goods and disparities between different regions, and quickly deal with any imbalances and intervene more efficiently when needed, stressing the importance of cooperation with the World Food Program being reflected in building sustainable capabilities within the Ministry.
Measuring the efficiency of markets and the complaints system
In order to embody this vision, the two sides discussed starting to prepare and apply an integrated index to measure the efficiency of markets, so that the Ministry’s follow-up extends to measuring the extent of their availability and ease of access by citizens, price differences between regions, and quality levels, which provides a more comprehensive picture of the state of the markets, and enhances the Ministry’s ability to monitor any imbalances early and take appropriate decisions at the appropriate time.
The meeting also discussed the development of an integrated system for citizens’ observations and complaints, allowing for the follow-up of the complaint immediately after it is received until the completion of dealing with it, referring it to the competent authority and following up on the response time, in addition to analyzing complaints data and benefiting from them to identify recurring problems and their causes, which contributes to raising the efficiency of the response and improving the level of services provided to citizens and beneficiaries of the support system.
Data analysis to support food security
As for the field of food security and nutrition, the two sides discussed organizing specialized training programs on food security data and indicators, in cooperation with the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, in addition to presenting and discussing the outputs of the latest analyzes of relevant data, which will help the Ministry to form a more accurate picture of the conditions of families and the extent of their ability to obtain their food needs, and to benefit from these indicators in developing support policies and improving targeting of the most needy groups.
Training was also discussed on methodologies for analyzing the cost of obtaining healthy and balanced food, which helps study the relationship between food prices, nutritional needs and purchasing power of families, and supports the Ministry’s ability to evaluate the extent to which the support system contributes to providing the nutritional needs of citizens according to scientific foundations and indicators.
This approach is directly related to the second goal: the complete elimination of hunger, as it supports the construction of food policies based on accurate data on the ability to obtain food and its cost, which enhances the direction of resources towards the groups most in need, and supports the availability of sufficient and healthy food in a more sustainable way.
Enhancing integration between state institutions
Within the framework of enhancing integration between state institutions, the meeting discussed supporting the participation of the Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade in national efforts related to food and nutrition systems, and technical cooperation with the committee concerned with food and nutrition systems headed by the Ministry of Health and Population, in order to achieve integration between the role of the Ministry of Supply in making goods available, securing the strategic reserve, managing the support system, and following up on markets and prices, and between the relevant health and nutritional aspects, and in a way that enhances the Ministry’s contribution to implementing the goals of the National Plan for Food and Nutrition Systems.
Good health and well-being are closely linked to the quality of diets and the ability of individuals to obtain safe, nutritious and balanced food, which makes the integration between food access policies and health and nutritional aspects an essential element in improving the quality of life of citizens.
In this context, this approach is consistent with the third goal: good health and well-being are among the goals of sustainable development, by supporting policies that take into account the health and nutritional dimensions of food, and enhance the ability of families to meet their nutritional needs in a way that reflects on their health and well-being.
Dr. Sherif Farouk stressed that the partnership with the World Food Program aims to build sustainable institutional capabilities within the Ministry, through transferring knowledge and localizing modern tools and methodologies among Egyptian work teams, ensuring the sustainability of benefiting from the outcomes of cooperation.
It also supports the Ministry’s ability to plan and make decisions based on accurate data and indicators, and enhances its strategic role within the national food and nutrition system, in light of its responsibilities for making basic commodities available, securing the strategic reserve, managing the support system, and following up on markets and prices.
The impact of this trend extends to enhancing the efficiency of institutions and their ability to respond based on evidence, in line with Goal 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), through developing institutional tools, raising the efficiency of data management, and improving the ability to make more accurate decisions and respond to the needs of citizens.
In conclusion, cooperation with the World Food Program reveals an important shift in dealing with food security, from managing the availability of commodities and monitoring their prices to building a broader institutional capacity to understand what is happening within the market and measuring its actual impact on the lives of families.
The market efficiency index, the analysis of the cost of healthy food, reading food security data, and the complaints follow-up system are all tools that place the needs of citizens within the circle of decision-making more accurately, and give food policies greater ability to move before imbalances in prices, availability, or purchasing power turn into broader burdens on families.
The Earth Guards Foundation appreciates the establishment of partnerships with international programs and organizations, as they allow for the consolidation of a data-based approach in developing the support system, managing markets and directing resources, in a way that enhances the institutions’ ability to anticipate changes, protect citizens’ ability to obtain adequate and healthy food, and support the sustainability of food security and well-being. Society.
