Alexandria’s mid-November floods not only devastated homes and infrastructure, displacing thousands, they submerged dozens of poultry farms, killing thousands of chickens and bankrupting dozens of poultry farmers.

All is lost

Alexandria’s mid-November floods not only devastated homes and infrastructure, displacing thousands, they submerged dozens of poultry farms, killing thousands of chickens and bankrupting dozens of poultry farmers.

All is lost

“Everything was lost in the blink of an eye because of officials’ negligence in dealing with the downpours,” says Mohammad Hussein, an owner of a destroyed poultry farm in Algeria village. “Our houses and farms are gone, we have been displaced in the streets like stray dogs, and we don’t have a dime. We have to start from scratch,” he said. Hussein’s farm, which was worth some 200,000 Egyptian pounds ($US 25,500), was his primary source of income for his eight-member family as well as his elderly parents.

Farm owners left without compensation

“Eight teams have been formed by from the Ministry of Social Solidarity (MSS) to pay visits to the affected families in the damaged areas of Alexandria and offer compensation valued at 300,000 Egyptian pounds (US $38,000),” said Ghada Wali, Minister of the MSS.

But farmers like Hussein say this falls far short of what the government ought to be doing. “The Minister mentioned citizens who own the flooded houses but ignored farm owners, as if we have billions and have no right to be compensated for our severe losses.”

Riddled with disaster and debt

“The disaster cost me 100,000 Egyptian pounds (US $12,700), and I have 15,000 pound (US $1,900) installments to pay to merchants,” said Khamis Abdel Kader, a small poultry farmer. “Along with 50 other farmers, we are being threatened with imprisonment because we won’t be able to pay back our debt if the government does not compensate us,” he said.

Poultry prices rising

The torrent and cold provoked an increase in the prices of poultry, eggs, feed and other costs. In turn farm owners increased their prices to compensate for their losses. Egypt’s poultry production dropped from about 1.9 million birds down to 1.6 million, due to the weather,” said Abdel Aziz Assayed from Egypt’s Chamber of Commerce, explaining the economic consequences of the disaster.

“The government is on the way to compensating the losses of citizens, farmers and farm owners, EGP 2000 (US $255) for each farm depending on the size of the damage,” said Souad Khouli, acting governor of Alexandria.” He said the government also intended to develop construction projects, projects to sanitize and deepen drains, and provide water pumps and necessary equipment to increase the capacity of the sewage system to face future downpours.

Alexandria’s government also plans on removing the canals and drain encroachments – 100 have already been removed  – in order to finish all projects within 7-10 days, before the next storm.

“Compensation should be disbursed quickly because any delay is harmful for farmers and citizens as well,” said Hussein and other farm owners in a request addressed to President Sisi.