Almond Orchards in Egypt: Best Practices, Key Challenges & Practical Solutions

Almond is a small crop in Egypt, grown almost entirely in the governorates outside the Nile valley: of 1,156 feddans in 2019, Matrouh had 719, North Sinai 295 and South Sinai 109 (Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation). A 2012 Horticulture Research Institute paper calls Egypt's almond production very little compared with world output, and in North Sinai, a 2023 report says, almonds are sown from seed each October at least 3 m apart.

The same paper says Egyptian almonds are mainly budded on bitter almond rootstock, which needs deep, well-drained soil, so production is limited to porous soils with a deep water table; bitter almond roots are also prone to nematodes. Desert Research Center advice from Matrouh, reported in 2020, calls bitter almond a strong, drought-tolerant rootstock, grafted when seedlings are three years old or their stem is about 2.5 cm thick.

Studied plantings range from 7 × 7 m in a rain-fed Matrouh orchard of the cultivar Umm al-Fahm to 5 × 5 m for young budded trees under drip on sandy soil at the National Research Centre's Nubaria station, where Nonpareil and Ne Plus Ultra were tested. Advice from Matrouh warns against wadi spots where flood water stands for days and soils with shallow impermeable layers, as young almond trees are very sensitive to waterlogging.

Rain-fed almond depends on winter rain: the Matrouh orchard studied by the Desert Research Center received about 253 and 261 mm from November to March in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, with January the wettest month. A 2026 newspaper report from North Sinai says that two dry years in a row can make trees wilt and die, and that changing rainfall has led some farmers to switch to more drought-tolerant crops.

In the Matrouh study orchard, trees received their winter care in mid-November, before the rains, with sheep manure and mineral fertilizer; citing earlier work, the study says Matrouh almond trees get no fertilizer after that, and it notes that rain-fed almond trees in Egypt lack nutrients, especially boron. Matrouh advice for bitter almond seedlings before grafting is 20 liters of fresh water every 10 days, with shade from palm fronds, straw or brushwood.

The almond pest records found for Egypt are old: chemical control trials against the shot-hole borer on almond at Bourg El-Arab, on the North Coast, date from 1977 to 1979, and EPPO lists peach twig borer as present in Egypt on information from 1992. For care work, the ID DAVID ECOFEED spreads solid manure, the ID DAVID LAT&GO string mower controls weeds without herbicides, the Mañez Lozano Narrow Twister S6 sprays tall, dense canopies and the ID DAVID V1 disc pruner makes vertical and horizontal cuts.

No Egyptian source found describes almond harvest methods, labor or machines: a 2023 report from North Sinai says only that once the shells harden, the nuts are collected and cracked to extract the kernels. In the Matrouh orchard studied by the Desert Research Center, the harvest was recorded on 15 August. In orchards planted for machines on suitable ground, mechanized harvesting can bring the crop in on time, with less risk of nuts deteriorating while they wait.

Summer harvests, as in the Matrouh study orchard, are reliably dry: the World Bank's climate portal calls Egypt's summer, May to September, hot and dry, and the Egyptian Meteorological Authority's 1981 to 2010 normals for Alexandria, on the coast between Matrouh and Sinai, show no rain from June to August, 0.5 mm in September and 7.8 mm in October (WMO). This guide therefore shows ground drying of shaken almonds on the orchard floor, with the Flory CP87 Conditioner, as an option the climate allows; no Egyptian source describes it.

Flory harvesting machinery is available in Egypt through OVE Europe for both systems. On the ground, the VR700 Shaker, 34 Series Sweeper, CP87 Conditioner and 860 Harvester (or the smaller 490) work with the 1500 Conveyor Cart and ST14 Shuttle. Off the ground, the Flory COE C7 Shaker and L2 Receiver catch the almonds in a frame around the trunk, the Flory COE B8 Cart and VS25 Shuttle carry them, and the 4840 Field Elevator loads trailers in both systems.

No Egyptian source found describes how almonds are hulled, dried, stored or graded; the 2023 North Sinai report mentions only collecting and cracking. In this workflow, almonds dried on the orchard floor arrive with dry hulls and are hulled, then dried further only if their moisture is still above target; frame-caught almonds are hulled first and then dried in the shell. University of California guidance warns that wet nuts sent straight to the huller will not hull cleanly.

Egypt's National Food Safety Authority set aflatoxin limits for almonds in its Decision No. 6 of 2022: 8 µg/kg of aflatoxin B1 and 10 µg/kg in total for almonds for direct consumption or use as an ingredient, and 12 and 15 µg/kg for almonds to be sorted or otherwise treated first. These values match Regulation (EU) 2023/915, which applies to almonds sold in the EU.

Almost all the almonds Egypt imports are kernels: shelled almonds made up 96.9% by weight of the 7,287.1 t of almonds imported in 2025, and Egypt recorded no almond exports that year (UN Comtrade via WITS). Jessee, whose processing lines OVE Europe supplies, builds hulling, drying, in-shell cleaning and sizing, and shelling systems; its Airlegs nut cleaner was developed for the almond industry.

For general information only. Information may become outdated and does not replace site-specific professional advice. Consult a qualified agronomist and confirm equipment suitability with OVE before acting.