Early warning system for food security on anvil in Oman

MUSCAT, DEC 27

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources is spearheading a drive to roll out an Early Warning System (EWS) that alerts authorities about impending vulnerabilities with the potential to impact food security in the Sultanate of Oman.

The initiative – stemming from the recommendations of the landmark Food Security Lab that concluded last month – is backed by a number of national stakeholders, such as Oman 2040 Vision Implementation Follow-up Unit, Oman Food Investment Holding Co (Nitaj), Oman Flour Mills, Salalah Flour Mills, and Nakheel Oman. An inaugural workshop hosted recently by the Ministry also attracted the support of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations.

The Early Warning System envisaged by the Ministry centres broadly on the development of a platform that integrates and analyses all kinds of information and trends reported by various national and international food-related agencies. Compared against data collated from local food markets about price trends, supply chain issues, food stockpiles, and nutritional levels, this platform will help authorities make informed decisions to strengthen food security.

A key goal of Oman’s Food Security Strategy is to enhance local and foreign investment inflows into key sectors of the food economy, encompassing agriculture, fisheries, farming, livestock, food processing, cold chain, safety and hygiene, and food management segments. It also lays great stress on enhancing local product competitiveness, localizing quality projects with modern technology, and development of local content.

A framework for Food Security adopted at last month’s lab has also proposed a food basket of seven key staples for strategic storage, along with 32 other basic commodities for priority stockpiling.

Significantly, the move to establish an Early Warning System for Food Security comes on the heels of Oman’s endorsement of a global ‘Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate’, which was adopted during the recent COP28 Summit in Dubai.

Oman joined 158 other countries globally in committing to, among other things, expediting the “integration of agriculture and food systems into our climate action and, simultaneously, to mainstream climate action across our policy agendas and actions related to agriculture and food systems”.

It also pledged to “pursue broad, transparent, and inclusive engagement, as appropriate within our national contexts, to integrate agriculture and food systems into National Adaptation Plans, Nationally Determined Contributions, Long-term Strategies, National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans, and other related strategies before the convening of COP30”.

All 159 signatories, including the Sultanate of Oman, also agreed to “revisit or orient policies and public support related to agriculture and food systems to promote activities which increase incomes, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and bolster resilience, productivity, livelihoods, nutrition, water efficiency and human, animal and ecosystem health while reducing food loss and waste, and ecosystem loss and degradation”.