SAMARKAND: The Sultanate of Oman, represented by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources, is taking part in activities of the International Conference on Food Security. The conference is held in Samarkand, the Republic of Uzbekistan. It is organised by the Ministry of Agriculture of Uzbekistan in conjunction with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Oman is represented in the conference by a delegation led by Dr Ahmed bin Nasser al Bakri, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources for Agriculture.
Al Bakri gave a speech during the conference, “This important conference on food security aims to review the current situation of food production and achieve food security and the challenges it faces in eliminating hunger and improving agricultural food and nutrition systems, leading to the Samarkand Declaration on Food Security”.
He explained that the Sultanate of Oman has given a great attention to the issue of food security and food provision. Oman, he affirmed, is constantly seeking to strengthen the food security system in terms of increasing production of goods with a comparative advantage, stabilising supply chains for imported goods, and providing logistical structures for storage and distribution in various governorates of Oman.
He added that the Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development Strategy in the Sultanate of Oman 2040 and the Fisheries Sector Strategy 2040 aspire to enhance the sustainability of the agricultural and fishery sectors, increase economic returns, create job opportunities for Omanis, and support rural communities.
He pointed out that the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources worked during the past two years to implement an investment laboratory for food security. The content of lab focused on implementing investment programmes and projects in the short and medium term and developing an investment map in the food and water security system whose investment cost exceeds RO 1.3 billion. Implementation of these projects and following them up has begun according to performance indicators consistent with Oman Vision 2040, Al Bakri said.
The Under-Secretary for Agriculture added that the outcome of the annual report on the Global Food Security Index for 2022 which is drafted in accordance with international standards, ranked the Sultanate of Oman in the 35th place compared to its 40th ranking in 2021, and in the 3rd place in the Arab world compared to its 5th ranking in the Arab world in 2021.
Al Bakri called for the launch of a nutritional development awareness initiative to be implemented in coordination with all authorities concerned. The initiative deals with rationing daily food consumption, making fundamental changes in food consumption patterns, and working to intensify food production and improve and develop productivity.
The conference will witness a review and a study of a set of pioneering experiments in the field of food safety and quality from several countries in the world.
Official government delegations, representatives of international and regional organisations, experts from universities, colleges, and specialised institutes, and a number of civil society associations, global expertise houses, and those interested in the field of food safety and quality participate in the conference. - ONA
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