Three projects to boost Oman’s food security

Energy Sunday 28/April/2019 21:10 PM
By: Times News Service
Three projects to boost Oman’s food security

Muscat: Farmers, consumers, and jobseekers could all benefit from a three-point strategy by the Oman Food Investment Holding Company (OFIC) to give Oman food security.
An integrated fruit and vegetable marketing company, an improved logistics programme and a food techno park are the three projects that the Oman Food Investment Holding Company is considering establishing in the Sultanate.
Saleh Al Shanfari, Chief Executive Officer of Oman Food Investment Company told Times of Oman: “Looking at the projects that we have already launched and the ones that are currently underway this year, we will be able to see Oman as a better place to invest, a better place to find the right food and a place where producers will find it easier for them to focus on production, where we will take care of distribution, marketing and packaging.”
According to Al Shanfari, the purpose is to make Oman more competitive and to look at untapped resources.
“The overall goal is to make Oman more competitive and to make farmers capable of producing the right food, and to make consumers capable of accessing the right quality, quantity and prices of certain types of food,” Al Shanfari added. The aim of the establishment of an integrated Fruits and Vegetable Marketing company (F&V) is to create a company that will specialise in marketing locally grown and imported fruits and vegetables.
Oman Food investment Holding Company held a workshop yesterday in which the food investment arm of the government presented the benefits that the projects could have on the Omani food sector.
“The three projects will integrate with existing activities within the framing societies, the purpose of establishing firstly the fruit and vegetable marketing company is to work very closely with the farmers, and the producing community, especially the agricultural growers and SMEs to make sure that there is proper collection, grading, distribution and packaging of the produce in the market. Currently, no such company is available, although previously we had the Public Authority for Marketing Agricultural Produce which was closed,” Al Shanfari told Times of Oman.
The integrated food logistics project is predicted to help reduce the transportation time in addition to increasing sustainability and reducing any environmental impact. “The second project is the food logistics company, this is a unique company. Currently, it is non-existent, there are multi-faceted logistics companies, but what we are planning here is to have a dedicated food logistics firm that specialises in handling food for proper code value changed,” added Al Shanfari.
The food techno park is the third proposed project, and is aimed to bring together various food and agriculture sector services provided under one roof. This FTP also aims to create jobs in the food and agriculture sector in Oman.
Al Shanfari explained: “The third project which is the food techno park is a highly unique ecosystem that allows SME’s and start-ups to have their own ideas, nurtured, mentored and guided in order to be able to begin their start-ups through an incubation phase which then allows them to grow into a full-fledged company that can compete in the global arena.”
Since its establishment in 2012, Oman Food Investment Holding Company has become central to all food related matters in the country.
“We are trying to produce a highly competitive ecosystem that allows service users and those who are looking for proper code value change logistics to be able to compete through a global platform,” Al Shanfari said.