Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia’s Agricultural Development Fund has approved a number of loans and credit facilities worth over SR820 billion million ($221 million) with an aim to bolster the agriculture sector in the Kingdom through various programs, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Monday.

The fund’s board headed by Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Abdulrahman Al-Fadhli endorsed among other plans two initiatives to mitigate the fallouts of coronavirus, through backing up the standing capitals and operational costs of the small and medium-sized establishments.

The board also gave its nod for direct, indirect, and financing of agrarian enterprises, across the Kingdom, in partnership with commercial banks, to import targeted agricultural products included in the food security strategy.

Dates' production, poultry, and fish breeding are included, as well as financing to build a veterinarian services' complex relating to a live-stock cooperative, import of fodders and animal production inputs.

Furthermore, the board approved financing agricultural investment, abroad, with an overall value of SR281 million, targeting planting and exporting some crops.