Red Sea Global Launches Red Sea Farm Cooperative to Transform Agricultural Economy in Tabuk

SPA
SPA
TT

Red Sea Global Launches Red Sea Farm Cooperative to Transform Agricultural Economy in Tabuk

SPA
SPA

Red Sea Global (RSG), the developer of the world's most ambitious regenerative projects, has announced the launch of the Red Sea Farms Cooperative (Tamala), which was established through integrated national partnerships between the government, private and non-profit sectors.

Tamala aims to develop a model entity that achieves the Kingdom's orientation to enhance the role of cooperatives in the agricultural sector system. Tamala's board of directors and general assembly consists of 29 members with experience in the agricultural sector and farmers from the local community in the Tabuk region.

Tamala was launched in partnership with Ithmaar Administrative Entrepreneurship Company, Goros Charitable Foundation, and several entities and people in the Red Sea region in the governorates of Al-Wajh, Umluj and Duba in northwestern Saudi Arabia.

Based in Al-Wajh Governorate, Tamala aims to achieve a qualitative agricultural renaissance in the Tabuk region by developing the quality of agricultural products, providing agricultural extension and awareness services to shift to modern agricultural techniques, instead of traditional patterns. It also aims to provide agricultural inputs to farmers according to the latest standards, which contribute to improving agricultural production and farmers' quality of life, SPA reported.

Tamala is based on achieving an ambitious strategy that supports the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030, which will be achieved by adding value to the agricultural sector in the Kingdom by providing and marketing agricultural crops on a large scale.

This contributes to achieving food security in the Kingdom by stabilizing food prices, supporting the rural development economy, and providing many production incentives and raw materials to more than 1,000 factories operating in the fields of food and beverages, which is equivalent to 14% of the number of factories in the Kingdom.



In Freezing Temperatures, Swimmers in China Plunge into a River for Health and Joy

 A resident swims in a pool carved from ice on the frozen Songhua river in Harbin in northeastern China's Heilongjiang province, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP)
A resident swims in a pool carved from ice on the frozen Songhua river in Harbin in northeastern China's Heilongjiang province, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP)
TT

In Freezing Temperatures, Swimmers in China Plunge into a River for Health and Joy

 A resident swims in a pool carved from ice on the frozen Songhua river in Harbin in northeastern China's Heilongjiang province, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP)
A resident swims in a pool carved from ice on the frozen Songhua river in Harbin in northeastern China's Heilongjiang province, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP)

Even as the mercury dropped below freezing, enthusiasm soared among about a dozen hardy swimmers during an annual ritual in northeast China’s ice city of Harbin.

The swimmers had trained daily throughout the year for this moment.

They first had to carve out a pool in the Songhua River, thawing the 10-centimeter (4-inch) thick ice that froze overnight. Then they stripped down and, one by one, plunged into the bone-chilling waters of the pool about 10 meters (33 feet) long.

Some said their limbs were already numb when the air temperature fell to minus 13 degrees Celsius (8 degrees Fahrenheit).

Chen Xia, from the eastern coastal province of Zhejiang, dived into the river even though she was suffering from a cold. She said the waters in her home city were warmer than those in Harbin, where the temperature was about 0 C (32 F).

The experience strengthened her confidence in winter swimming, a sport she has been devoted to for about two decades.

“I felt prickling all over my body,” said Chen, 56. “But it still made me feel blissful."

Harbin resident Yu Xiaofeng said winter swimming in her city can be dated back to the 1970s, after locals saw Russian Orthodox faithful being baptized in the river. In 1983, the city's winter swimming association was established.

Yu, 61, said she found a sense of a big family and joy during her 30 years of swimming.

“Since the pandemic, we came up with a slogan: Rather suffer through winter swimming than line up at the hospital,” she said, adding that winter swimmers appeared to have better health than others.

You Decang, 76, said swimming kept him healthy and he had never caught a cold.

"If I go just one day without winter swimming, I feel quite uncomfortable,” he said.