A real estate look at agricultural investment
Abdulaziz Alissa
Agricultural land constitutes one of the important and vital pillars in the components of real estate wealth in the Kingdom, as indicators showed the growth of cultivated areas from year to year, jumping from 1.07 million hectares in 2020 to 1.14 million hectares in 2024, which achieves sustainable economic development in the Kingdom, which is clearly evident in the continuous efforts made by government agencies and investment entities to support this vital sector, as it has become a national necessity to achieve food security, diversify sources of income, and create new job opportunities.
<The Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture's strategy and plans include 59 different initiatives that support this trend, which touches the needs of all agricultural sectors and stimulates various projects in the sector, and here comes the role of development agencies in creating a suitable and attractive environment for investment through designs for housing associated with projects and tight implementation of infrastructure that meets the challenges of the nature of agricultural lands, and keeping pace with the flow of agricultural goods by constructing warehouses and depots with special specifications that provide the necessary equipment to maintain product quality, to complement the role with engineering offices by creating quality designs adapted to the nature of the product. <Due to the importance of investing in this important life sector, the competent authorities motivated farmers and scientists in agriculture through the Sustainable Agricultural Rural Development Program «Saudi Reef», as the number of beneficiaries of its support reached 87,235 beneficiaries in various regions of the Kingdom, as part of its efforts to promote economic and social stability in the countryside and support agricultural craftsmen and productive families, such initiatives revitalize the agricultural land market and encourage the expansion of projects through the circulation of agricultural real estate. <Among the agricultural initiatives that have begun to bear fruit is the Green Saudi initiative, which works to plant 45 million fruit trees in agricultural terraces and 4 million lemon trees by 2030, turning the numbers into practical steps towards achieving the targets of the Kingdom's Vision 2030. These initiatives are expected to save more than half of the Kingdom's fruit imports, about 4.5 billion riyals, according to reports.
