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JEDDAH: Minister of Water, Environment and Agriculture Abdul Rahman Al-Fadli, also chairman of the Saudi Grains Organization (SAGO), has said that the country was supporting the grain sector with SR3 billion.
Al-Fadhli said: “The decision of the Council of Ministers in regards to allocations for SAGO, has been completed. Allocations have been made for four companies. It will be complete within the coming 12 months.”
The minister said that new expansions would be opened, and new branches will also be opened in the Eastern Province and Al-Ahsa. The expansion and the increase in the number of branches will be decided according to supply and demand — it will not be decided by management but will be done on economic grounds.
Al-Fadli, on the eve of the inauguration of its SAGO branch in Jeddah, said that the ministry was trying to increase storage capacity by five times. It will also work to double the productivity at the Makkah branch of SAGO.
Ahmad bin Abdulaziz Al-Faris, director general of SAGO, said that the organization has launched a number of branches and expansions in various regions of the Kingdom. In Jamad Al-Akhir, it opened its first branch in Al-Kharj; then it launched a mill with a capacity of 600 tons of wheat per day.
This was followed by the opening of an integrated branch in Jazan with storage silos with a capacity of 120 thousand metric tons, and a flour mill with the capacity of 600 tons of wheat per day.
Al-Faris said that the expansion project of the Jeddah silos cost SR332 million, and that the capacity of concrete silos to store grain is 140 thousand tons. He said that the Jeddah silos would have electronic transformers, a distribution station, and an electronic computerized control system.
He said that SAGO was working to increase its capacity for storage and production of its branches, which are now 14 in all parts of the Kingdom. They produce 13 tons of flour every day and 75 million 45kg bags annually to cover the demands of the Kingdom’s population.