King Salman inaugurates Saudi agriculture program

King Salman inaugurated the Sustainable Agricultural Rural Development Program at Al-Yamamah Palace in Riyadh on Wednesday. (SPA)
Updated 10 January 2019
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King Salman inaugurates Saudi agriculture program

  • The program aims to boost production
  • Minister said the program would also help small producers across the Kingdom.

RIYADH: King Salman inaugurated the Sustainable Agricultural Rural Development Program on Wednesday at his palace in Riyadh. 

The program aims to boost production, processing and marketing of fruit, fish, livestock, Arabic coffee and cultivation of rain-fed crops.

The Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture, Abdulrahman bin Abdulmohsen Al-Fadhli, thanked the king for patronizing the launch of the program. 

He said the program would also help small producers across the Kingdom.

The program will not only boost investment in the agriculture sector but it will also diversify the sector, improve the incomes of small farmers, create job opportunities and contribute to food security and sustainable development.

Vision 2030 aims to diversify the economy by developing the economic sector to achieve sustainable development. It further emphasizes reserving natural resources including the rationalization of water consumption in agriculture and achieving food security to increase the share of the agriculture sector in the gross domestic product, which will help in the main agenda, economic diversification.

The king expressed his happiness over the overall progress of the country. He thanked God for blessing the Kingdom with resources and honoring it with the presence of the Two Holy Mosques.

The minister presented the king with a commemorative gift.


Saudi Arabia delivers sacrificial meat to Egypt, Palestine

Updated 6 sec ago
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Saudi Arabia delivers sacrificial meat to Egypt, Palestine

The Saudi Embassy in Cairo hosted a formal handover ceremony as the Kingdom delivered sacrificial meat shares to Egypt and Palestine under its Project for Utilization of Hady and Adahi (livestock sacrifice), managed by the Royal Commission for Makkah City and the Holy Sites.

Deputy Saudi Ambassador to Egypt Khalid bin Hammad Al-Shammari presided over the transfer, presenting Egypt's allocation to Major General Mohamed Reda and Palestine's share to Palestine Ambassador to Cairo Diab Al-Louh in the presence of Saad bin Abdulrahman Al-Wabel, the project's General Supervisor.

The shares of 30,000 sacrificial animals were handed over to the Arab Republic of Egypt and an equal number to the State of Palestine.

Al-Shammari highlighted that the program, operational since 1983, "constitutes an integrated regulatory framework for administering the Hady and Adahi religious practice, guaranteeing procedural integrity, equitable distribution, and lasting impact." The initiative channels sacrificial meat domestically and internationally to deserving Muslim recipients across numerous nations.

Al-Wabel emphasized the Kingdom's dedication to "facilitating efficient utilization and distribution of sacrificial meat, ensuring it reaches beneficiaries in roughly 26 Islamic countries."

Ambassador Al-Louh conveyed Palestine's deep appreciation to Saudi Arabia's leadership for their consistent annual support of the Palestinian people through this program.

Egypt's representative similarly thanked the Saudi leadership for their ongoing contributions to Arab and Islamic nations, invoking divine blessings for the Kingdom's continued stability and advancement.