Egypt will begin importing rice, a crop has typically had in surplus, to increase stocks and control the market, months after a campaign to cut local production. Egypt this year slashed cultivation of rice, a water-intensive crop, to conserve vital Nile river resources as Ethiopia prepares to fill the reservoir behind a colossal $4 billion dam it is building upstream and which Cairo worries could threaten its water stocks. Necessary steps will be taken to increase the rice on offer in order to control the market and prevent any bottlenecks in the coming period.