RIYADH: The Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, the National Center for Palms and Dates, and the Saudi Technology Development and Investment Company (TAQNIA), studied plans to establish the biggest regional factory to benefit from palm, date and agriculture waste.
This came during a meeting presided over by Ahmed bin Saleh Ayada, undersecretary for the ministry; Sulaiman Al-Khateeb, chairman of vegetable resources at the ministry; and Mohammed Al-Nueiran, president of the center, to study the establishment of the first regional factory to turn waste from palms and dates into products of economic value.
According to Nueiran, it is planned to establish the factory near the Qassim region, the second largest main region producing palm and date waste in the Kingdom.
The factory’s productive capacity is estimated at 300,000 tons per year of the transformed products that require 500,000 tons of palms, dates and agriculture product waste.
He said that based on the study, the project is expected to create 2,000 direct and indirect new job opportunities across other production regions in Riyadh, Madinah, Al-Ahsa and other cities.
The agriculture sector in the Kingdom produces over 1.7 million tons per year of palm, date and agricultural waste.