Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Minister of Environment, Water, and Agriculture Abdulrahman Al-Fadhli has disclosed that the government has agreed to allocate SR91 billion to raise local content and to invest in food products, increase domestic output, and increase export capacity.

He said, during a panel session on Monday during the Local Content Forum in Riyadh, that in the past year the agricultural sector has achieved a rise of SR72.25 billion, representing a 2.3% proportion of the GDP.

He added that the total agricultural loans from this year's Agricultural Development Fund is expected to reach SR7 billion, 18 times higher than 2015.

Al-Fadhli emphasized that the ministry has clear policies that can improve and develop to benefit the private sector.

“Over the past six years, investments have exceeded SR120 billion in the water sector, and we have an advantage to be the pioneer of the production of sweetened water, and to localize its industry, enabling us to use locally developed and exportable materials and technologies.”

He revealed that SR105 billion has been approved to be invested in the water sector over the next two years to upgrade services and provide water sustainably in all sectors.

The minister explained that the agriculture sector has a strategy whose objectives have been recently updated and linked to the food security strategy.

Al-Fadhli stressed that the Kingdom's government has worked on policies, legislation and incentives to increase local content in the sector and to make it more sustainable.