New outlets to ensure enough livestock for Eid

While confirming ample stock of animal livestock, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries said that new outlets will be opened to cater to the demand during the festival of Eid al Adha. “A large quantity of livestock will be available before Eid al Adha,” said Sulaiman bin Mohammed bin Abdullah al Salmi, Director General of Livestock at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.

He said that the government represented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries has been working to open new outlets to meet the needs of the local market for livestock.

“In order to increase the supply in the local markets, the ministry has granted licenses to a number of companies specialised in importing livestock from Kazakhstan, Armenia, Romania, Spain and Sudan”, Al Salmi said.

Licences will be also granted soon to import animals from Kenya and South Africa, he revealed. According to him, the ministry has given great attention to the protection and development of local livestock.

“The number of livestock in the Sultanate reached 3.5 million heads, including sheep and goats”, he said.

Al Salmi pointed out that the ministry has been looking for new outlets to import live animals and their products including frozen red meat. In this regard, the ministry is making efforts to overcome obstacles and challenges that come in the way of investments by the private sector in this field.

He confirmed that the ministry is currently working for a national company to build an integrated project for the production of red meat by importing live animals from different countries.

Efforts are being made by the Ministry of Regional Municipalities and Water Resources in coordination with the private sector to establish a central livestock market.

It was already agreed for allocation of a site in the Wilayat of Al Suwaiq with an area of one million square metres. The Ministry of Regional Municipalities and Water Resources is currently preparing the designs for this project to be implemented by the private sector.