©FAO/Rosetta Messori - Fishers sitting on their boat in the harbour with a catch of fish from the Arabian sea.

Muscat, May 21, 2017— The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) started a two-day inception workshop in Muscat on the regional technical cooperation project entitled “Strengthening National Capacities of Producer Organizations in the Near East and North Africa”, which will focus on three countries from the region: The Sultanate of Oman, Lebanon and Sudan, under the umbrella of FAO’s Regional Initiative on Small-Scale Family Farming.

Undersecretary for Agriculture of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in Oman, Dr. Ahmed bin Nasser bin Abdullah Al Bakri, attended the inaugural speech by FAO Representative in Oman Nora Ourabah Haddad.

Engineer Munir bin Hussein bin Ali Al-Lawati, Director General of Planning and Development at the Ministry of Agriculture in Oman, highlighted on behalf of the ministry in his inaugural speech that agriculture and fisheries are among the most productive sectors that support the government's policy of economic diversification. He said the government counts on these two sectors to play a pivotal role in enhancing food security in the Sultanate.

“Small scale family farming resonates in 80% of agricultural products in the Near East and North Africa region. Latest statistics in Oman show that there are more than 166,000 independent small scale family businesses in agriculture and livestock production, 122,831 of which, or 74%, with an area of less than 2 feddans, ” he added.

Al Lawati expressed the ministry’s gratitude to FAO for its efforts to develop food security on a global scale.

FAO Representative in Oman Nora Ourabah Haddad declared: “we must recognize that small-scale farmers, family farmers and fishers (women and men) invest their time and energy, making strenuous efforts to feed their families and the world. They make up the majority of those working in the agricultural sector in our region and yet they face many barriers and struggle to make a decent living.”

She elaborated: “producer organizations and cooperatives play a key role in the sustainability of the agricultural and fisheries sector, these are unique business enterprises that combine both economic and social functions and base their functioning on a number of human values.”

Ourabah Haddad concluded that “FAO will continue to support governments in each of the target countries to encourage them to create an enabling institutional environment including sound policies, adapted regulatory frameworks and economic incentives that are essential for these organizations to thrive and drive productive investments in agriculture and fishing.” She stressed that the success of this project is “directly linked to the involvement of all actors and to extent of institutional support in the focus countries.”

Following the keynote speech, Guilherme Brady, Lead Technical Officer of the project and FAO coordinator Civil Society, Cooperatives and PO team delivered a presentation of FAO’s experience on strengthening capacities of Producer organizations and cooperatives by enabling environments recognizing the role of Cooperatives and Production Organizations. Brady called for support to strengthen activities of these strategic partners, with a view on FAO leadership’s vision and success stories from the NENA regional initiatives on small-scale family farming.  Moreover, he underlined the need for improved understanding of the legal frameworks in the region and the improved skills in terms of governance and equity, negotiation, and policy dialogue.

The two-day workshop will adjust the three country work plans and gather all necessary elements for the success of this strategic project. The main objective aims at improving Government and POs’ capacities  for adapted policies and programmes; allowing effecient producer organizations and enabling environment for small-scale family farmers to thrive. This shall reflect on food security and livelihood’s improvement in rural areas in the NENA region through Producer organizations.

The event is held under the patronage of Oman’s Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, Dr. Fuad bin Jafar bin Al Sajwan within the ministry’s premises.

Workshop participants are: FAO Representative in Oman Nora Ourabah Haddad, the Undersecretary for Agriculture of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in Oman Dr. Ahmed bin Nasser bin Abdullah Al Bakri, Director General of Planning and Development at the Ministry of Agriculture, Engineer Munir bin Hussein bin Ali Al-Lawati, FAO experts from headquarters and NENA office in Cairo; and delegations from the three countries, Lebanon, Oman and Sudan.