Wednesday 13 / November / 2024
I was driving between Maabelah and Barka and saw patches of green on the vast and endless desert stretching for miles on the foot of the formidable Hajar mountains.
Old craggy and thorny trees are growing in endless profusion, too. I am sure not everyone driving through in our roads ever notice them as we all drive past in a great hurry. I think it is wishful thinking that my thoughts were running towards that direction thinking that the deserts in Oman are turning green.
But on second thought, what about if our deserts were made to turn green? Maybe the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries should work on a project like that. Official statistics show that over 70 percent of Oman is desert but that is not surprising considering the country is in the heart of Arabia. However, imagine that at least a quarter of the desert is cultivated to grow food.
In the mid-1980s, there was a desalination project that was aimed to turn seawater into fresh water irrigation system to cultivate parts of the desert close to the beach. I wonder what happened to that important project?
It was meant to turn Oman into self-sufficient to locally grown food, by at least 50 percent of the current capacity. One of the plans was to grow wheat and rice in the deserts that are turned into farms. It was ambitious plan that not only would have proved that Oman would have been near self-sufficient in food productions but reduce our massive imports bill.
It would also have increased wealth into the country and create more farmers, not to mention more young people would have established their own businesses instead of looking for jobs. That would have also increased the Sultanate’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), too. Oman would have exported foods in larger quantities to neighbouring countries as well.
Should that important project be revived? I should hope so. Land, in any country is wealth and Oman is the second largest country in the Arabian Peninsula. Thousands of square kilometers in this blessed country are empty and will continue to be empty, and worse, unproductive. Is it a complete waste of resources if this vast land continues to be unused? I leave the answer to this question to the experts who are more knowledgeable than me.
Critics would say it is a costly project to make the desert useful or turn it into an economic viability. But I wish that the concerned authorities will get together to revive it. As far as costs are concerned, the government can team up with foreign investors. The project can start by hiring consultants specialising in cultivating the deserts. Oman will not be the first country to turn an arid land into farms. It has been done before and it continues to be done in many countries across the globe.
The local economy will receive a huge boost in the long run and the future generations will hugely be grateful. As it is, the population in Oman is increasing by at least 5 percent a year, thanks to a very young population that is producing all the time. So, food independence has to be a top priority. Especially when the world is going through many challenges, including wars.
