JEDDAH — Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, emir of Makkah Province and adviser to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, launched a number of agricultural development projects. The projects were launched during the workshop entitled "Agricultural Development in Makkah Province – aspirations and challenges" organized by the Ministry of Agriculture on Wednesday at Jeddah Hilton Hotel. Prince Khaled launched the fishermen's anchorage in Al-Qunfudha governorate. The anchorage includes a building for each of fish resources and another building for the fishermen's association. The anchorage has a capacity of 400 small fishing boats, 600 big fishing boats and 20 leisure boats. The total cost of the anchorage has reached SR85 million. Prince Khaled laid the foundation stone for Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz National Recreation Park in Khulais governorate. Its total area is estimated at 18 million square meters. He also inaugurated the exhibition accompanying the workshop. During a speech on the occasion, Abdulrahman Abdulmuhsin Al-Fadli, minister of agriculture said Makkah Province is receiving great attention from the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman in all aspects of comprehensive development. Among the priorities of this development is agricultural development, which is the focus of this workshop. He added that the Ministry of Agriculture is working in uplifting the agricultural sector Kingdomwide, according to the relative advantages of each province. Al-Fadli further said that the relative advantages in biodiversity that Makkah Province enjoys provide many investment opportunities for farmers and investors, who are interested to take advantage of these merits. This is apart from the support and encouragement that the state provides. He said the province has many aquaculture projects. The ministry is encouraging investors to increase fish production in the Kingdom by using several methods including floating cages in the sea. Al-Fadli said Makkah Province has set precedence in setting up poultry farms for broiler chicken and eggs, apart from model slaughterhouses in the region's governorates, which contribute to 40 percent of the Kingdom's production in this field. The Makkah Province is also well-known for the production of grapes, Taif pomegranates and dates. It is also well-known in the Mideast region and the world for the production of Taif rose perfume and rose water. There is an animal quarantine in Al-Khumrah, which is the biggest in the Kingdom. It is located in southern Jeddah. The Ministry of Agriculture said Makkah Province has 77,000 agricultural farms with a total area of 1.2 million dunums. Of these, 57,000 farms are for the production of crops including grains, fodder, vegetables and fruits. As regards animal resources, there are 1.2 million heads of sheep, 500,000 heads of goats, 31,000 heads of camels and 10,000 heads of cattle. The number of poultry projects has reached 98 and there are 5300 beehives. Meanwhile, Khaled Nasser Al-Ghamdi, director general of agricultural affairs in the province invited the private sector to activate the integrated development center, which was set up according to a decision by the Emir of the region.
