RIYADH, 21 April 2008 — In a major drive for sustained agricultural development in the Kingdom, the government is studying a proposal by Agriculture Minister Fahd Balghunaim to increase the price of wheat purchased from local farmers by 100 percent.
Balghunaim made the proposal before Shoura Council members yesterday in a closed-door session.
“The minister informed us that he had officially proposed the idea of raising the purchasing price of wheat bought by the government from local farmers,” a Shoura Council member told Arab News.
Balghunaim said his ministry was also currently studying a national project to ensure sustained agriculture in the Kingdom and the preservation of water sources.
“The project aims to preserve water sources for agricultural use which would secure an abundance of food for citizens,” he said.
The minister added that the Kingdom currently provides sufficient local supplies of dairy products, fruit and vegetables.
He denied that the Agriculture Ministry was delaying payment to local wheat farmers, adding that they were paid immediately once their harvest was delivered to grain silos.
The minister also reassured the council that the supply of local wheat in Saudi Arabia was sufficient for another six months.
Commenting on the recent bread crisis, the minister blamed sheep owners who had taken advantage of cheap flour prices by using flour as cattle feed.
“Sheep owners used flour in animal feed due to the rise in price of barley. The recent government subsidy for barley has helped reduce the usage of flour in animal feed,” Balghunaim said.
He added that large amounts of flour were being smuggled outside the Kingdom and sold in neighboring countries where prices are much higher.
“The Interior Ministry, through the coast guards, has worked hard to track down flour smugglers,” he said.
The crisis, which affected citizens and residents alike in the past two months, caused many bakeries to raise the price of bread.
Also, several bakeries sold fewer quantities due to the insufficient amount of flour available.
The minister said government bodies were tackling the issue. “The Grain Silos & Flour Mills Organization is working in its full grinding and packing capacity 24 hours a day, seven days a week to cover any shortfall,” Balghunaim said.
He added that the ministry had also ordered additional grinding machines for flour mills in Jeddah, Madinah and Hail. “All of these flour mills currently produce 12,000 flour bags each on a daily basis,” he said, adding that additional grinding machines would be provided to mills in Riyadh and Al-Jouf at the beginning of August.
He also said that businessmen wanting to open flour factories should approach the Grain Silos & Flour Mills Organization to acquire licenses.
Regarding the 5,000 camels that died in the Kingdom last year due to toxic feed, the minister said the General Investigation and Prosecution Board was still investigating the issue.
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah had ordered livestock owners be paid SR20,000 per dead animal, Interior Minister Prince Naif announced earlier this year.
A panel of senior officials investigating the deaths of livestock attributed the deaths to contaminated feed supplied by a flour mill in Khamis Mushayt.
