Oman Food Bank saves 100,000 meals

MUSCAT, OCT 30

The Oman Food Bank (Daymah) under the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources (MoAFWR), salvaged more than 100,000 meals weighing 60 tonnes valued over RO 100,000, according to Ibrahim bin Abdullah al Hosni, Chairman of Daymah. He said the amount of wasted food decreased by 19 per cent compared to the previous year.

Speaking on the sidelines of the recently held Food Security Lab 2024 under the auspices of Dr Saud bin Hamoud al Habsi, Minister of of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources, in cooperation with the Oman Vision 2040 Implementation Follow-up Unit, the National Programme for Investment and Export Development (Nazdar), the National Employment Programme.

“The Food Bank was able to distribute about 250 tonnes of vegetables and fruits with a value exceeding RO 50,000 and more than 10,000 food baskets to beneficiaries. This benefited more than 6,000 families. We also signed more than 45 agreements through strategic partnerships,” Al Hosni said.

Daymah is a non-profit platform aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of food collection and distribution processes for needy individuals and families in Oman since 2021. Over the course of last 3 years, it has deployed a number of volunteers and vehicles for the collection and preservation of food from different sources.

During the last Ramadhan, as many as 2,890 meals and 320 Ramadhan baskets were distributed among the needy and encouraged the culture of food preservation, reducing food waste and recycling surplus food.

During the two-week long Food Security Lab 2024 which concluded with discussions and brainstorming sessions aimed at strengthening the strategic directions and addressing challenges in the presence of their excellencies, dignitaries, and CEOs from the public and private sectors, he said that such achievement were the results of many initiatives which were launched in the past.

“Such achievements wouldn’t have been possible without the initiatives that the Ministry implemented which includes the project to recycle food waste and convert it into soil-enhancing fertiliser. The recycling of cooking oil into biofuel contributed to reducing carbon emissions from vehicles,” the chairman said.

Speaking to the Observer, Dr Thaer Yassin, acting Director-General of the FAO Office in the Sultanate of Oman, stressed that food security and nutrition are crucial to the realisation of the right to food, and peace cannot be sustained without addressing hunger.