Скачать или смотреть Loofah manufacturers call for boost to their industry

(13 Jan 2017) LEAD IN
Makers of the bathroom loofah in Egypt are calling for more support from the government.
They want to give the industry a boost to make their foreign exports more competitive.

STORY-LINE
These strange looking plants might look like they should end up in a vegetable competition or a stew.
But they're actually the plants from which your bathtime loofah come.
Farmers grow them, soak them in water then peel them ready to be dried for production.
The village of Abis, 12 kilometres away from the coastal city of Alexandria is famous for producing the loofah.
"We start growing loofahs from the month of April. We prepare proper irrigation, trimming and use chemicals to keep weeds and pests away which helps produce many plants. And by August the plants are ready and dried up", explains loofah farmer Hassan Ahmed.
Waleed Mohamed owns a loofah factory in Alexandria and is proud of exporting his brand. However he's calling for Egypt to give more support to his industry so that the country can compete internationally.
In the meantime Mohamed is doing what he can to boost his business by bringing it into the 21st century.
"We have improved and modernised a lot of things in our craft. We used to do all of the steps manually but now we are using machines", he says.
Mohamed explains that Lebanon, Greece and Algeria are the main places he exports his loofahs to.
The loofah, or luffa, comes from two species of tree: L. aegyptiaca and L. acutangula.
The fruit of these trees can also be eaten as a vegetable.
Loofah fruit are best eaten when small (less than 12 centimetres) and still green and are particularly popular in China and Vietnam.
When fully matured the fruits become a tough mass of fibre, which is why they make such good loofah sponges for your bathroom or kitchens.

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