Saudi Arabia’s Agricultural Development Fund is stepping up efforts to bolster food security and sustain the Kingdom’s agricultural sector, raising self-sufficiency and strengthening strategic reserves.
The push is part of a broader strategy balancing support for domestic production and supply chains with external programs to import targeted products and invest in cross-border agriculture.
Habib Al-Shammari, the fund’s official spokesman, told Asharq Al-Awsat the approach aligns with the national agriculture and food security strategies. He said the fund continues to promote modern technologies in agricultural projects to preserve natural resources and boost productivity.
In 2024, the fund disbursed more than 1.2 billion riyals (about 300 million dollars) for projects that used modern technologies. These helped save nearly 4 million cubic meters of water and cut energy consumption by about 330,000 megawatt hours, Al-Shammari said.
He added that such technologies also reduce greenhouse gas emissions by improving efficiency, in line with the Saudi Green Initiative. The fund financed agricultural projects worth 26.6 million riyals (7.1 million dollars) to support afforestation and expand vegetation cover.
Al-Shammari said the fund has also backed biodiversity protection by financing programs supporting beekeeping and honey production, developing rose cultivation and rain-fed crops, and extending loans totaling more than 12 million riyals to central nurseries.
Loan approvals reached about 6.47 billion riyals (1.72 billion dollars) by the end of 2025, he said. The fund also signed a memorandum of understanding last year with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in Rome to support sustainable rural agricultural development and exchange expertise.
Al-Shammari said such agreements strengthen the agricultural sector, pointing to deals with local entities, including Jazan City for Primary and Downstream Industries, to enhance integration into food-sector investment opportunities and maximize the impact of the fund’s programs for investors and farmers.
The fund also signed an agreement with the National Center for Palms and Dates to support the sustainability of the sector and related industries, financing operating costs for date purchases and offering tailored financing solutions.
Another agreement with the Imam Abdulaziz bin Mohammed Royal Reserve Development Authority focuses on vegetation development, ecosystem sustainability, and support for local communities within the reserve.
To strengthen the livestock sector, the fund signed a deal with Al-Raie National Livestock Company to finance a sheep farming project in Hail valued at 1.106 billion riyals (295 million dollars), with a total investment cost of 2 billion riyals (533 million dollars). It also signed an agreement with the Center for Support and Liquidation (Infath) to regulate the sale of seized real estate and share expertise.
