Cairo is poised to send a delegation to Uganda to identify farmland for growing wheat in Egypt's latest move to shore-up supplies of the grain, of which it is the world's biggest importer.

The move comes amid a controversial grab for farmland by many importing nations, with popular protest crushing plans by South Korea's Daewoo Logisitics last year to corral some 1.3 hectares of Madagascar.

Magdy Rady, an Egyptian government spokesman, told a press conference: "There is a committee that will visit Uganda in order to determine an area to grow wheat there for Egypt and we are awaiting approval from the Ugandan side on that request."

The statement, which followed a joint news conference held by Ahmed Nazif, the Egyptian prime minister, and his Ugandan counterpart Apollo Nsibambi, comes amid a drive by Cairo to secure wheat supplies, both through its own production and imports.

Last month, Cairo held talks with Moscow over formalising imports from Russia, the world's fourth biggest wheat exporter, which has this year trounced rivals in Egyptian wheat tenders.

Political issue 

Egypt already runs three farms abroad - in Niger, where it grows mainly rice, a vegetable growing operation in Tanzania, and a corn producer in Zambia.

However, it is believed particularly interested in setting up operations in countries further up the Nile basin, which encompasses Uganda, as well as countries such as Ethiopia, Rwanda and Sudan.

Besides potentially making grain easier to transport to Egypt, this focus may also reflect the country's ability to veto water-consuming projects further up the river, a power which has created resentment among some other Nile states.