RIYADH, 4 August — The Kingdom will sign an agreement with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization later this year to extend an existing technical cooperation accord. The renewal of the agreement will help the Kingdom seek extensive technical support from the UN agency in research and development activities in the fields of agriculture, fisheries, animal health and water.
The two sides would cooperate in veterinary and agricultural quarantines to ensure safety of livestock and agricultural consignments that come to the Kingdom from various countries, said an FAO official here. The move will also help Riyadh to realize better food security.
The decision to renew the agreement comes as the Kingdom is stepping up efforts to protect its animal resources. The Saudi Ministry of Agriculture opted for a countrywide quarantine program after foot and mouth disease was detected in the country earlier this year. The Kingdom detected more than 2,400 FMD cases in 46 infected sites.
The FAO has cooperated with the ministry to eradicate the disease. Some 170,000 cattle in Saudi dairy farms have been vaccinated following the FMD outbreak. The UN agency has prepared a multimedia program to help other countries of the region to develop contingency plans to fight the disease.
Saudi Arabia is renewing the technical cooperation agreement with FAO for the sixth time. In October 1966, Minister of Agriculture Dr. Abdullah Al-Muammar signed a document in Rome renewing the pact for a five-year period.
The total Saudi contributions to the FAO budget so far exceeded SR191 million. This is in addition to SR1.4 billion made available by Riyadh to the UN’s World Food Program since 1963. The Kingdom’s total contributions to the budget of the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) since 1977 totaled SR1.3 billion.
Saudi Arabia has extended SR82.5 million in aid to the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development. It has also been providing annual assistance to specialized UN and international agricultural organizations like the International Fund for Combating Desert Locusts, the Paris-based International Organization for Animal Health and the India-based International Committee for Irrigation.
The Saudi government has been procuring thousands of tons of dates from local plantations to distribute them to the needy within the Kingdom and abroad through the World Food Program. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd last month issued instructions to purchase 21,000 tons of dates at a cost of SR74 million.
