The agriculture and fisheries sector grew by 9.4 per cent in 2014 compared to 8.8 per cent growth in the previous year. The agriculture sector is expected to contribute 3.1 per cent to the GDP by 2020 with an annual growth of not less than 4.5 per cent, while fishing sector aims to expand its contribution to GDP to about 2 per cent by 2020 with a targeted annual growth of 5.6 per cent. “There is a strategic plan to develop fisheries sector during the period from 2013 to 2020 aimed to enhance fish production, increase its efficiency and protect natural resources from extinction”, the Central Bank of Oman says in its Annual Report for 2014.
The strategy also aims to secure safe supplies of fish production for local consumption, better utilisation of fish reserves and increase in investment by the private sector besides attracting foreign investments to fish and fish processing industries, as well as aquaculture.
One of the objectives of the Eighth Five-Year Development Plan has been the development of agriculture and fisheries sector, primarily to promote food security and provide work opportunities for the national workforce in rural areas.
Special initiatives have in effect been taken by the government to develop these two sectors.
“Focus on additional allocation of funds to this sector, construction of new markets, improving marketing of products and providing product specific support to the producers, are some of the initiatives that have been taken by the government”, reveals the apex bank.
The government has been continuously pursuing policies that promote economic diversification and the focus has been on increasing the contribution of non-oil sectors to the GDP.
According to the report, the combined share of agriculture and fisheries to GDP was only 1.3 per cent in 2014 compared to 1.2 per cent in the previous year.
Zawya