The King of Saudi Arabia, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has inaugurated the Sustainable Agricultural Rural Development Program on 9th January at his palace in Riyadh.
The agri program intends to increase production, processing and marketing of fruit, Arabic coffee, livestock, fish and cultivation of rain-fed crops.
The programme will target 8 sectors, which includes smallholdings and traditional agriculture; production, processing and marketing of Arabic coffee; rose cultivation and marketing; beekeeping and honey production; small-scale fisheries and fish farming; fruit production and marketing; smallholder livestock production and rain-fed crops. The program will increase the use of natural and human resources.
Abdulrahman bin Abdulmohsen Al-Fadhli, the Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture thanked the king for supporting the launch of the program. He said the program will help small producers in the entire Kingdom.
He added that the program will not only help in improving investment in the agriculture sector but will expand the sector, generate job opportunities, improve the incomes of small farmers and contribute to food security and sustainable development.
The vision 2030 intends to diversify the financial system by developing the economic sector to attain sustainable development. It further stressed on reserving natural resources that includes rationalization of water usage in agriculture and attaining food security to raise the share of the agriculture sector in the GDP (gross domestic product), which will help in economic diversification.
The king was happy with the overall growth and progress in the country. He even thanked God for blessing his Kingdom with such vast resources and also for the presence of Two Holy Mosques.
The minister at last presented the king with a memorial gift.
