Muscat, October 7 (ONA) - The Ministry of Agricultural Wealth, Fisheries and Water Resources represented by the General Directorate of Agricultural and Fisheries Marketing started implementing an electronic marketing project in fish markets, funded by the Agricultural and Fisheries Development Fund, at an amount of 184,120 Omani riyals. It was put into operation on July 19 of this year for a period of two years.
Khalid bin Muhammad Al Balushi, Project Manager and Director of the Central Fish Wholesale Market, said that the ministry's efforts to develop the fish marketing system in the Sultanate started years ago, and resulted in many successes, whether in establishing and developing the infrastructure in fish markets and landing areas, or by developing marketing systems and mechanisms, developing legislation and regulations in coordination with the concerned authorities, and ending with the installation of modern electronic systems in the marketing system that started in the central fish wholesale market, which is the first stage that was successfully accomplished with the cooperation of all parties in the fish marketing chain.
“This project comes conjunction with the launch of the future vision of the Sultanate (Oman Vision 2040) and the goals, plans and programs it contains, including the promotion of the fisheries sector, as it is one of the sectors targeted to contribute to the growth of the GDP and the introduction of modern technologies and systems in the sector to develop revenues and financial sustainability, enhance the concept of governance and facilitate procedures,” he added.
He mentioned that the second phase of the project had started in the fish markets in the governorates, as it would constitute a great addition in regulating the movement of fish products in the governorates' fish markets, in addition to creating direct and indirect job opportunities in the fish markets.
He pointed out that certain markets have been selected with a call-sell system, namely the markets of Suhar, Qurayyat, Al-Seeb, and Masirah. These markets were chosen in the light of specific marketing data and information. Work is currently underway to visit these markets to determine the required needs according to the working mechanisms of each market in preparation for the installation of the electronic trading system and to train and qualify the working cadres there, adding that the observers in the fish markets in all governorates have been provided with smart devices to record the data of fish products released in the markets on a daily basis and send them to the main database of the ministry.
Khalid bin Muhammad Al Balushi, Project Manager and Director of the Central Fish Wholesale Market, added that the project will increase sales, enhance transparency, increase revenues and provide job opportunities for Omanis, in addition to linking the markets after that to a single database that facilitates tracking of products.
(ONA)