Agreement signed to implement onion cultivation and production project in Al Dhahirah Governorate

Ibri: The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources, represented by the Directorate General of Agricultural Wealth and Water Resources in Al Dhahirah Governorate, signed an agreement with Dhank Agricultural Production and Marketing Company to implement a project to cultivate and produce onions in the Wilayat of Dhank on an area of ​​50 acres (210 thousand square meters), with funding from the Agricultural and Fisheries Development Fund.

It is hoped that the project will contribute to meeting the needs of the local market by producing abundant quantities of red onions, reaching 700 tons annually, making this project one of the elements of food security in the field of vegetable cultivation.

The agreement was signed by Eng. Salem bin Ali Al-Amrani, Director General of Agricultural Wealth and Water Resources in Al Dhahirah Governorate, and Adel bin Nasser Al-Hasani, representative of Dhank Agricultural Production and Marketing Company.

The agreement stipulates that the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources will provide technical and financial support to the company to implement the project of cultivating and producing red onions in the Wilayat of Dhank using modern agricultural techniques, and to contribute and follow up on the implementation of the project.

The project is funded under the contract signed between the company and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning to establish an onion cultivation project in the Wilayat of Dhank in Al Dhahirah Governorate on an area of ​​1,000 acres. The project is expected to contribute to meeting the needs of the local market by producing large quantities of red onions.

Eng. Salem bin Ali Al-Amrani, Director General of the General Directorate of Agricultural Wealth and Water Resources in Al Dhahirah Governorate, pointed out that the project is an important step towards reducing the import of onion crops and seeking to raise the self-sufficiency rate of the crop, within the framework of the efforts of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources, in cooperation with the private sector, towards enhancing agricultural production in the Sultanate of Oman in accordance with the aspirations of Oman Vision 2040.

For his part, Adel bin Nasser Al-Hasani, representative of Dhank Agricultural Production and Marketing Company, explained that this project represents a great opportunity to expand onion cultivation in the Sultanate of Oman, and represents a strategic step towards enhancing the role of the private sector in agricultural development in the Sultanate of Oman, stressing that cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources reflects the joint commitment towards achieving food security and increasing local production. Onions are among the main vegetable crops in the Sultanate of Oman.

According to statistics from the National Center for Statistics and Information for the year 2022, the area planted with onions in the Sultanate is more than (9000) acres, with the total annual production reaching (14866) tons, which represents (14%) of self-sufficiency.