Friday 19 / April / 2024
Muscat: Dr Yahya bin Amer Abdullah Al Ma’wali, Director General of Animal Wealth at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources said that 60,000 sheep and 6,700 cattles were expected to arrive in the Sultanate within upcoming two weeks.
The import of sheep and cattle comes at the advent of the month of Ramadan and Eid. Thirty-eight permits have been issued since April 1, he said, adding that the number of live sheeps and cattles imported since the beginning of April amounted to 57,120 sheeps and 1,970 cattles mainly from Somalia, Sudan and Australia.
He said that the Ministry has taken a number of steps and measures to maintain food security and making available adequate resources of food items to ensure smooth food supply chain.
The Ministry is also working on offering a number of incentives and facilities to ensure the steady inflow of food items to the local markets, he said.
The percentage of local production’s contribution in animal products in the Sultanate amounted to 51 per cent of red meat, 54 per cent of poultry and 57 per cent of table egg and 67 per cent in dairy products, he added.
The Ministry in coordination with the national companies operating in import of sheep and cattle is working on offering all facilities to such companies in order to meet the requirements of the local market, he added.
