The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has sought to adopt development policies which aim at attaining the food security and self sufficiency from agricultural crops and animal products, like dairy products, eggs and meat.

  Since an early stage, the Kingdom has been putting this aim on the top of its priorities which has been realized to a large extent. The first steps the Kingdom. He helped his people by giving them full freedom to utilize the arable lands, by exempting the machinery from customs fees, and by distributing the machinery to the farmers to be paid on interest - free installments. King Abdel Aziz also ordered the creation of the Directorate of Agriculture in 1948 0. and kept it connected with the Ministry of Finance in order to improve the irrigation systems, by distributing the water pumps, building the dams and canals, repairing the water springs and wells, reclaiming the agricultural land and giving loans to farmers. After the expansion of its activities and its increasing responsibilities, this Directorate became in 1953 the Ministry of Agriculture and Water and Prince Sultan Ibn Abdel Aziz was appointed as its first Minister. Since that time, this Ministry has been devoted to make the studies and plans to boost the agricultural sector, both in crop and animal production, in addition to developing sources of water.

  It is known that the geography of the Kingdom is mostly desert with several environmental conditions in most areas in addition to shortage in water resources and rains, but thanks to Allah, the strong determination of our people and the use of modern agricultural techniques and methods those difficulties were overcome and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in a short period of time, was converted from a food importing country to a food producing country with net gains for the economy and its exports.

Several Incentives:

  The most important incentives the government has in agricultural is by distributing the fallow lands free of charge to the farmers and agricultural companies and by providing aid and long-term loans through the agricultural bank which was established in 1962 G. The state pays 50 % of the value of machines and irrigation pumps and 45 % of the value of agricultural machines, equipment and local and imported fertilizers, In addition, it distributes the improved seeds and seedlings for low prices, it provides agricultural guidance and veterinarian services, as well as pest control services through the agricultural directorates, units and offices all over the Kingdom. The state also buys the agricultural crops from the farmers, especially wheat and barley at preferential prices through the General Organization for grain Silos and flour mills which have existed since 1972G.

Agricultural Roads:

  The state has been so concerned with the agricultural roads to serve farmers, facilitate their movements and market their products in the main marketing centers, that together with the Ministry of Communication it has built agricultural roads parallel with the main roads program. The total length of the agricultural roads for 19860 was 100, 000 kms while in 1970 it was only 3600 kms.

Increasing the Agricultural Roads:

  Due to the government’s support for the agricultural sector, the Kingdom has witnessed the citizens’ great interest in investing in agricultural fields, and the establishment of big Joint Stock Companies, which have increased the cultivated area in the Kingdom from 600,000 hectares in 1980 to 1.6 million hectares in 1992 0. 2.5 million hectares of fallow lands have been distributed to farmers and the Agricultural Bank has provided loans to both farmers and investors in agricultural and animal production. Until 1986 0 these loans amounted to 30.4 billion riyals which helped establish more than 3000 specialized agricultural projects for producing vegetables, fruits, dairy products and meats. The bank has also provided aid for the product requirements (agricultural machinery, equipments and tools) which have reached more than 11.1 billion riyals from 1973 0 up to the end of the fiscal year 19980.

  The General Organization for Grain Silos and Flour Mills has constructed ten industrial compounds in the agricultural production regions of the Kingdom for storing the grains, producing flour and manufacturing fodder. The storage capacity of the grain silos has reached 2.38 million tons and the productivity of the flour mills has increased to 1.61 million tons annually.

Production of Wheat:

  The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has a leading experience in producing wheat. It reached the self-sufficiency stage in 1985 0. and began exporting from 19860 onwards. The highest rate of wheat production in the Kingdom was in 1412 H (1992 0) as it reached more than 4.2 million tons. But in an effort to ration water consumption and to maintain ground water level, wheat production has been gradually reduced since 1413 H / 1993 0 to reach 1.8 million tons in 1417 H / 1997 0. Present production is for self-sufficiency purposes only, and wheat exports have been stopped. The last wheat export was in 20.12.1415 H (May 19950). A similar action has been taken to reduce the production of barely which reached a maximum of (1822950) tons and has been reduced to (464000tons) asofl4l6H/1996G.

Vegetables and fruits:

  In 1998 the Kingdom’s vegetable production was 2.7 million tons with some surplus which were exported to neighboring countries. The production of fruits was 1.2 million tons, including grapes (140000 tons) and citrus fruits which amounted to 87000 tons. The Kingdom produced around 649, 000 tons of dates annually (There are around 13 million planted trees in the Kingdom), and there are 24 processing plants for marketing the dates in and out of the Kingdom. It is a fact that the Kingdom contributes large quantities of dates to the World Food Program.

Husbandry Farms and Production:

  In 1997 animal production in the Kingdom reached 280,000 cows, about one million sheep, 626400 goats, 750,000 camels and 395.2 million birds, While the production of animals has increased rapidly, the dairy products have reached 883,000 tons, eggs 2500 million, chickens 451,000 tons, red meats 157000 tons and fish 55000 tons. Thus the Kingdom has achieved self-sufficiency and even export potential in many agricultural products, which made the food and agricultural organization of the United Nations (FAO) award its international prize for 1997 0 to King Fahad in appreciation for his leading role in this field and his contribution in fighting poverty and hunger in developing countries.

High Growth Rates:

  The agricultural policies adopted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have resulted in achieving high growth rates for the agricultural development progress in the Kingdom. The annual growth rate for the agricultural sector has reached 8.4 % during the period 1969 - 1996 which made the agricultural sector contribute 34 billion riyals to the total local revenue.

Developing Water Resources:

  In the field of developing water resources, the Ministry of Agriculture and Water has conducted an overall survey of the water resources in the Kingdom, and has tried to supply drinking water to all cities, towns and villages of the country. 5,500 pipe wells have been dug. Private wells have reached to (103118). Most of them are for agricultural purposes. The Ministry has achieved 1290 projects for the supply of drinking water to towns and villages, and the Ministry operates and maintains them through the national companies and establishments. To make use of the rain and flood water, the Ministry had built until 1998 189 dams in various regions of the country with a storage capacity of about (780 million M3). As strategic option, the Kingdom chose to desalinate sea water in order to procure a permanent source of drinking water and to establish the General Organization for Water Desalination whose projects have become too many in a short time such that the Kingdom has become the largest producer of desalinated water in the world. The desalination stations has become 27 stations on the western and eastern coast of the Kingdom which supply more than 40 cities and villages. These stations produce about 2.5 million cubic metres, (667) million gallons of desalinated water daily in addition to producing 3600 megawatts of electricity. It is expected that production will increased to 3 million cubic meters (800) million gallons daily and 5000 megawatts of electricity after operating the new desalination stations which are currently under construction, The quantities of water currently produced by the desalination stations cover about 70 % of the total requirements of the main cities of the Kingdom, and the electric power generated from them cover 30 % of the electric consumption.