Arab News, Tuesday, Jul 16, 2024 | Muharram 10, 1445
Saudi Arabia to bolster food security with 5 new investment projects in Al-Baha
Saudi Arabia:
RIYADH:
Saudi Arabia’s food security is set to strengthen with five new investments in
the agriculture sector of the Al-Baha region, aimed at achieving
self-sufficiency under Vision 2030.
The Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture announced these
opportunities through its FURAS portal, as reported by the Saudi Press Agency.
The projects include cultivating orchards, coffee, palm trees, and producing
flowers and wild plants.
This comes as Saudi Arabia, despite about 90 percent of its territory being
desert, is leading an agricultural boom aimed at boosting domestic crop
production and reducing dependence on imported food.
The Kingdom has already achieved complete self-sufficiency in dates, fresh dairy
products, and table eggs, according to the General Authority for Statistics’
Agricultural Statistics Publication.
The new investment opportunities feature a coffee city project aiming to
cultivate more than 150,000 trees across an area exceeding 2.29 million sq. m.,
with a production capacity surpassing 15,000 tonnes.
The ministry has set a submission deadline of Sept. 10, with bid envelopes
scheduled to be opened the following day.
Another initiative is the Al-Ennab Village project, situated near Al-Janabeen
Dam, focusing on cultivating palm and fruit trees over an area of more than 4.6
million sq. m. The deadline for bids for this project is Sept. 24, with the
envelopes scheduled to be opened the following day.
The Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture emphasized the strategic
importance of these projects in enhancing agricultural productivity and ensuring
long-term food security for the Kingdom.
Meanwhile, the ministry said that the lavender fields project opportunity aims
to plant over 2,500 lavender seedlings annually and set up a fence and shades
made of agricultural mesh, mother fields, and irrigation networks in an area
that will exceed 11,710 sq. meters.
The deadline for submitting bids is Sept. 2, and the envelopes will be opened on
Sept. 3.
Additionally, there is a fruit nursery project in the Qilwah governorate aimed
at cultivating 100,000 seedlings annually for all types of fruits, covering an
area exceeding 33,370 sq. meters.
Moreover, a flower nursery project in the same district has been included among
the investment opportunities. This initiative aims to produce 500,000 seedlings
annually for various flowers and wild trees, covering an area exceeding 34,790
sq. meters.
Bids are scheduled to be submitted by the end of Sept. 3, with the envelopes set
to be opened the following day.
MEWA announced the launch of the first Saudi AgriFood Tech Alliance earlier this
month, with founding partners including the Research, Development, and
Innovation Authority, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, and
Topian, NEOM’s food company.
According to the ministry, the alliance aims to provide a platform to unite and
mobilize a complementary network of food and agriculture stakeholders,
catalyzing the national-scale deployment of AgriFood technological solutions.
The alliance includes around 40 entities from the public and private sectors,
research and academia, and nonprofit organizations.