As part of its efforts to support the agricultural sector and contribute to the national income, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources will establish an integrated agricultural project in the wilayat of Musannah in South Batinah governorate.

Speaking to Muscat Daily, an official in the ministry said it will issue a tender this month to establish and develop the project in the Al Ghasr area of Musannah.

“The project aims at growing a variety of vegetables and developing agricultural investment projects. It also aims to provide modern technologies in agriculture, irrigation and to ensure their sustainability, achieve high quality of products and increase their competitiveness in the markets. 

The ministry will provide land to investors to build the infrastructure and basics of the project and enable Omani entrepreneurs to work on it,” said the official.

Talking about the ministry’s efforts in the agricultural sector, he said, “The ministry has adopted new methods to enhance agricultural investments and increase interest in small and medium enterprises and agricultural associations as an alternative to the existing systems. The arable land in the sultanate is estimated at 5.5mn acres, while 262,000 acres are utilised depending on the availability of water.”

In 2019, the agricultural sector achieved promising growth rates. The agricultural sector’s contribution to the GDP increased from RO416mn in 2018 to RO433mn in 2019, recording a growth rate of about 4 per cent. 

The total volume of production reached 3,018 tonnes in 2019 compared to 2,951 tonnes in 2018, recording a growth of 2.3 per cent.

“This is due to the increase in productivity as a result of the use of modern technologies by agricultural companies and farmers, which undoubtedly contributed to increasing the volume of agricultural production and adopting integrated production and prevention packages,” added the official.