Coronavirus: Saudi Arabia allocates $79 mln to finance agriculture imports, projects

Saudi Arabia allocated on Tuesday 296 million riyals ($78.8 million) to fund 35 projects to support the agriculture sector within the Kingdom and for imports of food supplies from abroad, as part of the government’s efforts to ensure food security amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The initiative launched by the Kingdom’s Agriculture Development Fund (ADF) will be carried out through direct and indirect loans.

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The Director-General of the Fund, Munir bin Fahd al-Sahli, said agricultural loans worth 131 million riyals were approved to finance 26 projects to grow vegetables in greenhouses, and projects in the poultry sector.

The board of directors also agreed to finance loans worth 105 million riyals to import rice, corn, and soybeans from abroad.

The Fund also granted agriculture loans worth 60 million riyals to finance a variety of projects.

“A large portion of these loans comes as a part of the Fund’s initiatives to combat the impact of the coronavirus and mitigate the anticipated economic impacts on the activities of the private agricultural sector,” al-Sahli said.

“The loans are aimed at enhancing the efficiency of the local agricultural sector, achieving food security, and ensuring the continuity of supply chains and the abundance of the supply of agricultural products and food commodities.”

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