Saham Agricultural City will offer Oman farmers a lifeline

Alamy/Michael Runkel

Oman’s plan to build a $4.2 billion agricultural city in Saham, a town in the northern province of Batinah, offers a lifeline to nearly 30,000 farmers living in the area.

Saham Agricultural City will cover an area of 65 sq km, with 70 percent dedicated to agriculture and 30 percent to urban development. Drawings for the project have been finalised and work is expected to start in the first quarter of 2025.

The city will use advanced technologies such as hydroponics, aeroponics (cultivating plants in an air or mist environment) and fish farming to feed 25,000 people annually. It is hoped that the project will help reduce Oman’s reliance on increasingly costly imports.

In 2023 Oman imported food worth almost $5.5 billion, up 5 percent compared to the year before, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources said.

The same statistics show that the sultanate’s food imports in the past five years have been rising at an average pace of 6 percent a year. 

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Saham is one of the most fertile cities in Oman, but the cost of farming during the hot summer months is becoming prohibitive for land owners.

Blazing temperatures require the installation of controlled environments, such as air-cooled shelters and dehumidifiers, to keep the crops safe from the heat. 

These add-on costs can run to thousands of rials, on top of exorbitant monthly electricity and water bills. Many farmers have been forced to abandon their livelihoods and sell land to property developers.

Currently, Omani farmers rely heavily on aflaaj, ancient water reservoirs that collect water during the rainy season, but the system is being strained by rising water demand.

The good news is that Saham Agriculture City will provide automatic irrigation, cooling systems, shade and other tools needed for hot climate farming. The city will be divided into plots, which will be distributed free to licensed farmers, with subsidised water and electricity bills. 

While Saham has been chosen as the first location for this important project, the government may well look to expand the scheme across the country

The ministry has yet to give a specific time frame for when the agriculture city will be ready. It could well take another two or three years. But for those farmers who have been looking for a lifeline to survive, even an indeterminate point in the future is better than never.

While Saham has been chosen as the first location for this important project, the government may well look to expand the scheme across the country in its efforts to boost food security and resilience. 

Oman wants to modernise its agriculture through technology, so the government will also need to re-educate farmers, who are currently using conventional methods.

The sultanate’s harsh weather not only limits farm productivity but also the freshness of crops. In large supermarkets across the country, consumers often choose imported fruit and vegetables over wilted local produce.

In this regard too, Saham Agricultural City should be a boon for Saham’s farmers, by helping to deliver fresher produce and, therefore, boost their share of local profits.

Hopefully, there will be many more agricultural cities built across Oman in the next decade to keep local farming traditions alive and secure the country’s food future.

Saleh Al-Shaibany is a journalist and lecturer, and CEO of AlSafa Press & Publishing