Omani Agriculture Day Marks 4.2 Million Tons of Annual Food Production
Backed by 3,000 living aflaj channels and the “Reefy” rural women’s program, Oman’s farm and fisheries output now exceeds RO 1.8 billion in market value
For millennia, farming in the Sultanate of Oman has depended on an exact pact between human engineering and scarce mountain water. From Copper Age stone settlements and terraced wadis to more than 3,000 living aflaj irrigation channels that still gravity-feed oases today, Omani growers historically supplied Indian Ocean ports with dried dates, Omani limes, pomegranates, mangoes, and frankincense. As the Sultanate celebrates Omani Agriculture Day across its governorates, new national figures show how that ancestral agrarian foundation has scaled into a modern food-security engine.
In an analytical review of the sector’s trajectory since 1970, Dr. Hamed bin Said Al Oufi, former Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, detailed how the combined gross domestic product of Oman’s agricultural and fisheries sectors climbed from RO 17 million in 1970 to more than RO 1 billion in 2025. Over the same period, total domestic food production across crops, livestock, and fisheries expanded from less than 300,000 tons a year to more than 4.2 million tons in 2025, generating a market value exceeding RO 1.8 billion.
Three Hundred Thousand Cultivated Feddans and 3,000 Active Aflaj
That fourteen-fold expansion in physical food output rests on sustained investment in water efficiency, soil research, and high-yield seed varieties. Across the Sultanate, total cultivated farmland has grown by more than 300 percent since 1970 to surpass 300,000 feddans, irrigated by modern pressurized systems, groundwater recharge dams, and over 3,000 active aflaj channels.
Rather than relying solely on seasonal open-field cultivation, Omani farms increasingly deploy climate-controlled greenhouses, hydroponics, and tissue-culture laboratories that propagate disease-resistant date palms alongside high-altitude crops in Al Jabal Al Akhdar and subtropical fruits across the Dhofar coastal plain. Simultaneously, the national livestock herd has grown to more than 3.7 million heads of camels, cattle, sheep, and goats, anchored by industrial-scale food-security projects including Mazoon Dairy in Al Sunaynah, Al Murooj Dairy in Dhofar, and large-scale poultry and egg production complexes.
Empowering Omani Rural Women Through the “Reefy” Program
A defining feature of this year’s Omani Agriculture Day celebrations is the recognition of Omani rural women as primary producers and food-manufacturing entrepreneurs. In South Al Batinah Governorate, celebrations in Rustaq under the patronage of Governor Eng. Masoud bin Said Al Hashmi brought together 22 specialized exhibition corners highlighting female rural entrepreneurs, mountain apiaries, date processors, and smart irrigation startups.
Through the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources’ “Reefy” (My Countryside) program, rural women receive targeted micro-financing, food-safety certification, modern packaging design, and direct retail access. Instead of selling raw milk, honey, or dates at farm-gate wholesale prices, women-led rural enterprises now process and brand artisanal cheeses, clarified ghee, distilled rosewater, moringa oils, and value-added date confections—retaining higher margins inside mountain and desert villages.
Climate Resilience and Biosecurity for the Next Decade
Even as domestic self-sufficiency rises across dairy, poultry, dates, and seasonal vegetables, the sector faces persistent environmental pressures, including groundwater salinity in coastal plains, rising temperatures, and transboundary plant pests such as the red palm weevil and dubas bug. Addressing these pressures requires expanding treated-wastewater irrigation, solar-powered desalination for coastal farms, and drone-based crop monitoring—ensuring that Oman’s 3,000 aflaj and modern agro-industrial estates continue feeding generations to come.
