The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has lauded the Sultanate of Oman for steps to ensure food security in the country. "The steps are way ahead," it said.
Speaking to the Observer on the sidelines of 'The First International Forum of Expertise in the Field of Prospects for the Development and Art of Marketing and Promotion of Dates', Thaer Yaseen (pictured), Regional Plant Protection Officer, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) at the Regional Office for the Near East and North Africa Region (RNE) said the Sultanate of Oman, along with the other GCC countries, have marched a great way forward in food security.
"The Sultanate of Oman is already working very well towards food security. The country's food security situation improved the most globally, as per the latest Global Food Security Index (GFSI). Oman is ranked 35th in the world in the index in 2022 and fourth in the Middle East and North Africa region," he said.
According to the 11th edition of GFSI published by Economist Impact and supported by Corteva Agriscience, the Sultanate of Oman's score went high by 13.8 points in 2022 to 71.2 compared to the figures of 2012. This gives the country the name of being the most improved country in the world, followed by China (+13.7), Vietnam (+13.4), Bolivia (+12.2), the United Arab Emirates (+12) and Saudi Arabia (+11.8), among others.
The index measured food security in 113 nations based on food affordability, availability, quality and safety, and sustainability and adaptation. GFSI has become a valuable tool across all sectors since its launch in 2012 and has been serving as a policy benchmark for governments and a country diagnostic tool for investment for both the private and public sectors.
"When it comes to dates cultivation and marketing, we recently had a lateral meeting together with our colleagues in Oman to improve the biological control and biological production and organic farming to be able to be open and consumers asking for healthy food with no contamination, no pollution and low impact to the environment, taking care of the climate change and having a green producing without any impact on nature," he added.
The Sultanate of Oman scored 88.6 in the affordability category (out of 100), 64.3 for availability, 73.2 for quality and safety, and 53.6 for sustainability and adaptation.
Finland is ranked first in the world, followed by Ireland, Norway, France, the Netherlands, Japan, Canada, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Portugal, making the top ten.
He further said FAO had been working towards the idea of food security, and the idea of this was made with KSA to build the International Date Palm Council in 2000 and convince a country of the need how to have a national or international standard for dates and breaking the rules by making a healthy transaction of export and import between the countries is the key factor of making better market and better marketing between countries.
"Having low environmental impact or having no possibility to transport the best import and export of dates is the motto of the International Date Palm Council, and I feel that this meeting is an example of how Oman and other Gulf countries are taking care of food security in the region."
Thaer said, "Oman is the best example for connecting the countries and sharing the experience with others, opening doors for others to export the quality dates to others. We are thinking and promoting taking into consideration the prediction, maintaining the quality and the like and marketing is equally or more important than production."
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