AAAID paves the way for regional food security

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

The Arab Authority for Agricultural Investment and Development (AAAID) has succeeded in enhancing food security in the Arab countries by contributing to 56 companies and projects, including 36 existing companies and 20 projects under establishment and implementation.

Its companies are geographically distributed in 21 Arab countries and focus on the production of basic agricultural crops and products with the aim to contribute to covering the food deficit in the Arab countries. AAAID’s agricultural investment activity is one of its main activities and includes establishing agricultural companies, contributing to them, monitoring their performance, and providing technical, financial, and administrative support to them.

Mr Mohammed Bin Obaid Al Mazrooei — Chairman of the Arab Authority for Agricultural Investment and Development, said: “AAAID is keen to increase agricultural investments in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by taking advantage of agricultural resources and the Kingdom’s attractive investment climate and active private sector.” He explained that AAAID in the Kingdom has achieved notable successes, the most important of which is the Arabian Cooperative Company in the Aseer region. It was established in 2009 in partnership with the Cooperative Association of Poultry Producers in Aseer region at an investment cost of about 200 million Saudi riyals and a production capacity of 60 million birds per year.

Al Mazrooei confirmed that the success of the experience with cooperative societies encouraged AAAID to implement a similar project with the Bisha Poultry Association and subscribed to the pre-IPO companies fund in the Kingdom with an amount of USD 10 million at the beginning of 2023, which is a fund specialized in investing in companies in the pre-IPO stage.

AAAID’s investments in existing companies and projects under establishment and implementation are distributed among four main sectors: the agricultural manufacturing sector at a rate of 49.40%, the livestock production sector at a rate of 24.25%, the plant production sector at a rate of 22.86%, and the agricultural services sector at a rate of 3.49%.

It is worth noting that AAAID contributed, in partnership with the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and a number of Arab countries, to establishing the Arab Fisheries Company in Jeddah in 1979. AAAID also contributed to the establishment of the Arabian Shrimp Company in partnership with the private sector in the Jazan region.

Additionally, AAAID has been actively studying various investment opportunities available in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in fields such as poultry meat and fish production, livestock fattening, the production and propagation of potato seeds, and modern agricultural techniques such as hydroponics, among others.