Can Egypt grow its own specialty produce and find enough buyers willing to pay for it?

🥬🍇 Imported produce is getting some local competition. On farmland located off the Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road, Hesham Shalash, founder of Tru Farms, grows more than 15 varieties of peppers, colorful cherry and heirloom tomatoes, fennel, Swiss chard, Brussels sprouts, and, depending on the season, other vegetable varieties you may or may not have heard of. In Beheira, Ahmed Emad, founder and CEO of Nefertoot, is building a blueberry business around a fruit that was difficult to grow in Egypt’s climate. In Mariouteya, the Makar family has spent decades supplying chefs with endive, asparagus, kale, and other crops that used to be imported.

These are very different businesses, but they are testing the same proposition: Can Egyptian specialty growers make a viable market for produce that’s expensive to cultivate and that caters to a niche segment of buyers?

The pioneers

Makar Farms traces its family farming roots to the 1880s. Farida Makar, who is part of the farm’s events and marketing team, tells EnterpriseAM that her grandfather George Makar returned from studying agriculture in France determined to try crops thought to be unsuitable for Egypt. “His approach was to reverse the European growing seasons, planting what Europe grew in the summer in Egypt’s cooler months. My father, Mounir Makar, took things a step further and was the first to develop hydroponic systems in Egypt in the 80s to broaden what the farm could produce,” she says.

Today, endive remains Makar Farms’ specialty. The crops they grow on roughly 25 feddans are primarily sold to hotels and restaurants, followed by specialty supermarkets. Direct-to-consumer sales and farmers markets account for a very small share. “I can tell you how well the tourism sector is doing at any given moment based on our sales figures for endive,” Makar says.

The experiment that became a business

Shalash’s inspiration was a boring supermarket produce aisle. After three years in the US as a pre-med student, he returned to Egypt during the pandemic. While quarantining on his family’s farm, he began planting imported pepper and tomato seeds. “I like spicy food, so I experimented with a variety of peppers and cherry tomatoes. The second year, I experimented with more vegetables, like colored cauliflowers, kohlrabi (German turnip) — things that are common in Europe and the US but not available here,” Shalash tells us.

By 2023, Tru Farms had moved beyond trials. Shalash learned which varieties customers wanted, which could withstand local conditions, and how much to plant. “I got the know-how mostly from reading, watching videos, and a lot of trial and error. My only formal training was last summer when I did a two-month internship in Sweden with Richard Perkins, an expert in regenerative farming,” says Shalash. Today, his specialty vegetables occupy about two acres of greenhouses and four to five acres of open fields within a much larger 350-acre family farm that’s mainly orchards.

The initial buyers were mostly expats and Egyptians who had lived abroad, Shalash tells us. Some already knew what to do with kohlrabi or spaghetti squash; others needed an introduction. “I’d say about 20% of my customers are just curious people who want to try new things. They try it, they like it, they come back.” Most of Tru’s direct-to-consumer sales happen at farmers markets in Maadi. They also take orders through Instagram and supply some small restaurants. Shalash hopes to add markets in Zamalek and possibly Sixth of October City, as well as home deliveries and a recurring produce box, in the coming year.

The direct-to-consumer relationship matters when a product needs explaining. It also allows Shalash to inform his customers why his tomatoes cost vastly more than those you buy at the supermarket. His heirloom varieties (grown from seeds passed down through generations) sell for EGP 200-220 per kg, while a 250-gram box of mixed cherry tomatoes goes for EGP 85. “Our products are biologically grown. My tomatoes are pesticidefree for the most part. The seeds, cultivation, and pest control methods that we use add cost. I care about nutrient density, flavor, taste, and variety,” says Shalash, “and my customers do as well.”

The rise of the Egyptian blueberry

Blueberries take another route. Emad, a computer scientist by training, worked in tech for 12 years in London. His personal love of blueberries and what he saw as a good investment window led him to found Nefertoot in 2021. “At the time, there were only two companies, Pico and Belco, that were growing blueberries here, but there was definitely demand for more, both locally and abroad. It wasn’t easy to find blueberry varieties that could grow in our climate, but we finally managed to find a nursery that would collaborate with us. They had already run their experimental phase in Morocco, and they were pretty confident about their varieties thriving in Egypt,” Emad tells EnterpriseAM.

Growing blueberries requires a substantial upfront investment. Emad explains that Egyptian growers must use shade and greenhouse covers to ensure “high chill hours,” manage temperatures, grow the plants in an acidic medium rather than in local soil, and rely on drip irrigation. Plant varieties and licensing terms matter too: some arrangements give the nursery control over the harvest and its overseas sale. Nefertoot has chosen varieties it can market itself, allowing it to build a domestic customer base.

As more growers enter the market, the customer base could widen. “Supply is increasing, which means that the price is now more competitive and the product is available to a larger market segment,” Emad says. He also grows raspberries, blackberries, and other fruit, but blueberries remain his company’s “crown jewel.” Nefertoot sells overwhelmingly to businesses: restaurants, hotels, manufacturers, retailers, and some traders who export its fruit. Emad estimates direct-to-consumer sales through his website at about 5%.

Egypt’s export numbers show how quickly the sector is scaling. In the first half of 2026, the value of Egypt’s blueberry exports increased to USD 36.25 mn from USD 10.29 mn in the same period a year earlier, with the bulk of exports going to the Netherlands, the UK, and Norway, according to Blueberries Consulting reports.

The domestic market and exports require different operations. Nefertoot already sells to third-party exporters. Emad says it has recently obtained certifications that would allow it to export under its own name, adding that they could make their first direct shipments next year. Egypt’s winter-to-spring blueberry harvest offers a potential window for European buyers, he says. But he is reluctant to surrender control of sales through an exclusive licensed-variety arrangement after investing in Nefertoot’s own market share.

New chefs, new menus, new demand

More discerning diners want better ingredients. Up-and-coming chefs, caterers, and supper clubs offer speciality growers a way to introduce unusual ingredients through dishes that show diners what to do with them. Shalash says the appetite for distinctive vegetables is already helping Tru. “The rise of supper clubs that like to do unique things and use specialty artisanal vegetables is beneficial for both parties,” she says.

Cairo Food Week, now in its fourth iteration, gives this experimentation a wider platform. For specialty growers, the window is to reach consumers developing more sophisticated palates and taking a closer interest in ingredient quality, flavor, and origin. Makar Farms has already made that connection through guest-chef lunches that it has been hosting on its farm since 2016, giving younger chefs a chance to cook with its produce and guests a chance to taste it and learn about hydroponic farming.

But visibility on social media does not always translate into volume. “An Instagrammable supper-club dinner may need only a few boxes of microgreens,” Makar points out, while a hotel can place a much larger order. Still, these smaller tables can introduce ingredients that shoppers later seek out themselves. For niche growers, a more discerning diner could become a repeat customer.

Making the economics work remains a challenge. “Imported seeds and soaring electricity and labor costs all weigh on prices,” Shalash says. Makar points to energy and greenhouse maintenance as major expenses for her farm’s hydroponic operation. Emad says blueberry plants and infrastructure require heavy capital spending, while some fertilizers and packaging remain imported.

The specialty label does not imply one business model. Makar Farms has sustained its business by serving chefs and hotels; Nefertoot is seeking a larger domestic market alongside direct exports; and Tru is building loyalty, one market stall at a time. Their shared chance is to put more variety within reach of Egyptian buyers. Whether enough of those buyers will keep paying for it through rising costs, hotter seasons, and the work of getting a delicate harvest to market remains an open question.