“Necessary alterations are being made in one of the ministry’s buildings to create a suitable environment for working women,” Balghunaim said while speaking at the board meeting of the Irrigation and Drainage Authority in Ahsa on Wednesday.
Many ministries have been striving to employ women. More than 1.5 million women have applied for jobs under the Labor Ministry’s Hafiz scheme, according to a recent report.
While unemployment in the Kingdom is estimated at 10.5 percent, women’s unemployment is considered far higher.
Thousands of women are also being employed in lingerie and cosmetic shops across the Kingdom following a recent government order. New jobs for women have also been found in the Ministry of Education.
The Agricultural Ministry will hand over some of its land to the Ministry of Housing in an unidentified province, Balghunaim said.
The minister added that his ministry would grant the Ministry of Housing some of the land under its possession if the latter needs it, Al-Watan daily reported yesterday.
With the aim of tackling the housing issue in the Kingdom, the government ordered the construction of 500,000 low cost houses last year. A new ministry was also set up to deal with the housing problem.
Balghunaim added that the Agriculture Ministry’s properties in urban areas are mostly parks, picnic locations and nurseries.
In his speech, the minister said the ministry did not have any plan to assign land to youths to start farms.
Speaking on the topic of rising price of livestock, the minister said the ministry planned to bring down cattle prices with measures such as importing livestock from South America, increasing the volume of imports from Australia and resuming imports from New Zealand.
The minister also allayed fears of vegetable and fruit consumers about insecticide contamination of farm produce. He said reports of such contamination were exaggerated.
“The ministry receives regular reports from research centers and universities showing that the level of insecticides found in farm produces did not exceed the permitted levels and was even less than found in the produce of most other countries,” the minister said.
However, the minister added the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs was responsible for ensuring the quality of food. It is the municipal authorities that take samples from markets for testing. There are two laboratories in Riyadh and Unaizah to check farm products, he said.
He said the Irrigation and Drainage Authority has launched a project to replace all irrigation canals with underground pipes. The project is being implemented in five phases. While three phases are being implemented, the contract for the fourth phase has been awarded and the fund for the fifth allocated.
The ministry is also negotiating with the National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development for cooperation to enable bee keepers to use wildlife reserves for beekeeping.
He said apiculturists who wanted to keep their farms inside reserves would be issued special identity cards to enter the reserves.
