Oman’s EA carries out campaign to plant 1 million seeds in Dhofar Governorate

Salalah: The Environment Agency, represented by the General Directorate of Environment in the Governorate of Dhofar, began implementing an extensive campaign to plant one million seeds of wild plants in the mountains of the governorate, which will continue until July 26.

The campaign comes within the objectives of the Environment Agency to propagate local wild plants to achieve part of the goals of the national initiative to plant ten million trees in the Sultanate of Oman.

Saeed bin Muhammad al-Shehri, head of the Biodiversity Department at the Directorate General of Environment in Dhofar Governorate, said that the campaign is carried out annually in areas affected by the Khareef season, from the Wilayat of Mirbat in the east to the Wilayat of Dhalkut in the west, by focusing on targeting the walled sites of the Authority and some other government agencies.

Among them is the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources, with the aim of ensuring appropriate conditions for the growth stages of plants and protecting them from the effects of overgrazing in the mountains of the province. He explained that the preparation stages for this campaign begin with collecting, processing, sorting and preserving quantities of wild plant seeds. In anticipation of rain, so that the seeds are sown immediately afterwards, with soil moisture and water saturation.

The head of the Department of Biological Diversity in Al-Nadb indicated that about 108,000 seeds were planted in the wilayats of Thumrait and Salalah in 2023, when the governorate’s atmosphere was affected by an air depression last April. It should be noted that the campaign aims to plant the seeds of the various wild trees for which the Sultanate of Oman and Dhofar Governorate is famous in particular, including Sidr, wild figs (Al-Ghaidit), Al-Sagout, Aloe Vera and Al-Khufut, with the aim of increasing the vegetation cover in the natural and pastoral areas in the Dhofar Governorate. .