FAO hails Oman's role in managing fish sector amid Covid-19

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has praised the Sultanate’s role in developing the fish sector and its efforts in organising the process of marketing fresh fish in the wake of restrictions that came into force following the coronavirus outbreak. 'The Sultanate of Oman is one of the largest fish producers in the Gulf and provides livelihoods for millions,' the organization said on its Twitter account. Since the beginning of the outbreak of the coronavirus, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries has been keen on ensuring sufficient quantities of fish products in the local markets. It has been constantly coordinating with fish companies, merchants and fish carriers to ensure continued marketing of fish products and their availability in the local market. On March 28, the Ministry, in cooperation with the Oman Technology Fund, launched 'Behar', the first Omani electronic platform to purchase fish from the central wholesale market for fish in Al Fulaij, with the aim of facilitating wholesale fish product purchases for fish traders and marketers, companies and institutions operating in the sector from various governorates of the Sultanate. That is done through online auctions on the platform, helping connect wholesalers with traders, while reducing the risk of exposure by any of the parties, to the coronavirus. The Oman Technology Fund, in cooperation with young Omani, soon thereafter launched the ‘Behar Plus’ platform to support the distribution of fish to homes as a distinctive service that reduces the risks of transmitting infection between members of society during the pandemic and to achieve the directives of the Supreme Committee to confront the pandemic using modern technologies and electronic means of communication to provide fresh fish products to consumers.