Oman farmers get $130m financial aid package

Oman has approved a financial package for local farmers to address supply chain challenges and increase food security in the face of problems arising from the Iran war.  

The OMR50 million ($130 million) fund will help farmers to grow more crops and livestock breeders to boost meat production across the country. 

“It is an investment in our crop and livestock farmers towards food security to boost supply chains in a time of regional instability,” Ahmed Al-Abri, director of agriculture development at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources (MAFWR), told AGBI.

He added the aid package would also help the recently established food depots to create a reliable corridor for the regional supply chain. 

Last month, Oman built warehouses in the northern city of Sohar close to the UAE border to bypass conflict in the Gulf. Sohar is also home to Oman’s biggest free trade zone and a port. 

“The war has pushed up seed prices and farming equipment by about 30 percent in the last six weeks. This financial grant will help us cope with the rising costs,” Abdulla Al-Hashmi, a farmer in Sharqiyah region, told AGBI.

This is the second aid package for farmers.

In October last year, MAFWR signed food security deals worth $96 million to provide farmers with free farming equipment, seeding, startup cash and heavily subsidised water and electricity as well as free land to new farmers. 

Oman has set aside $13 billion for food security investments from 2020-40 in projects ranging from building stocks and cultivating arid land to financing local farmers and fishermen. 

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