As part of his Royal meet-the-people tour, His Majesty Sultan Qaboos met at the Royal camp in Saih Al Masarrat in the Wilayat of Ibri yesterday with Shaikhs and dignitaries of the Wilayats of the Al Dhahirah Region and the Al Buraimi Governorate. The Royal address touched on a number of issues of concern to the country and citizens. After giving thanks and praise to the Almighty for the riches with which He endowed the Sultanate, HM said, “Today, I want to comment on the outcome of the symposium that was held in this area to assess the follow-up of recommendations of the 2007 symposium held in Samayil on achieving sustainable development for the agriculture sector.

“We thank Allah the Almighty that, since the first symposium was held in 2007, satisfactory achievements have been made in this field. No doubt that the last symposium highlighted a number of issues and proposed appropriate solutions for what believed to be hindrances or difficulties.” His Majesty said that the symposium came out with good outcome which was approved by him. What is more important now is to activate the recommendations of the latest symposium, said His Majesty, adding that he will follow up the implementation stage in person.

His Majesty referred to his earlier directives to plant one million date palms in the Sultanate. He said he knew that many are asking how the trees will be grown and what could be the purpose of the project. He explained that, after good study of the issue of food, it has been agreed that date palms have since antiquity been the backbone of food security in the Sultanate, along with livestock and other crops (such as cereals) and fisheries. These, said His Majesty, have been the wealth upon which generations of the people of Oman have relied.

“All date palm plantations have so far been private farms and this is a good thing. These farms now contain 8 million date palms distributed in all regions of the Sultanate. We have decided to grow a million date palms, which is a good number. First of all we have to think about the issue of water and land. It is not a simple matter as some might think,” said His Majesty. His Majesty explained that one date palm requires 10,000 gallons of water which, he said, is a very large quantity.

“So we have decided that the million date palms will not be distributed, but they will be an endowment from the government to the Bait al Mal (“public house of funds” in Islamic economic system). The one million date palms will be grown in three main areas, which are Al Dhahirah, Al Dakhiliyah and Al Sharqiyah, His Majesty added. His Majesty pointed out that the Dhahirah and Sharqiyah regions will have a larger proportion of the designated number of date palms than the Dakhiliyah due to its smaller geographic area.

His Majesty said that emphasis will be laid on a specific type of date palms known as “Al Fardh”, of which 800,000 trees will be planted, while the remaining 200,000 date palms will be those of “Al Khalas” and other types. A preparatory stage of planting of the targeted number of date palms will start next year, but we are aiming at a five-year period which begins in 2011. The duration can be increased if necessary. Tissue culture will play a basic role in the planting of the new date palms, said His Majesty. “We hope that, by end of the five year period most of the date palms will have grown on the benign land of Oman,” His Majesty said.

His Majesty underlined the need to give importance to agriculture, which he described as a wealth and to which promised his own support and the support of the government. He stressed the importance of farmers’ co-operation of each other and, in this respect, he cited the example of a new project in the Batinah region. He said, “It will be a good thing that all farmers join hands on matters of productivity, conservation of soil and rationalisation of water use — which will all bring excellent results.” Citing an Arab proverb saying that “no one hand can clap”, His Majesty called for unity in promoting “this proper attitude (of farmers joining hands)”.

His Majesty gave his Royal address in an open dialogue aimed to support the continuity of the comprehensive process of domestic development, to achieve the welfare and prosperity of the Omani citizens. His Majesty gave his directives to the ministers accompanying him to follow up the requirements of citizens, each in his area of discretion. His Majesty then listened to a poem which one of the citizens read before him expressing thanks to the leader of Oman’s renaissance and gratitude for the achievements brought about during His Majesty’s prosperous reign.