Agriculture and fisheries activities in Oman are guided by a robust regulatory framework, which has evolved in recent years to keep pace with efforts towards sustainable development and economic diversification. The agriculture and fisheries sector is a vital component of the sultanate’s broader economic vision, with recent government initiatives aimed at increasing domestic capacity and ensuring more of the food value chain remains in the country.
Oman’s fishing industry is influenced by its coastal location and climate, which allows year-round fishing. The market has witnessed steady growth, driven in part by an increase in demand for fresh and processed seafood. Recent trends towards healthier eating habits are further driving expansion in the sector. While public entities play dominant roles in agriculture, private firms are also increasingly involved, with investment aimed at boosting production and improving the country’s self-sufficiency. Key projects, such as agricultural markets and dairy production, highlight the sector’s potential to contribute to both domestic needs and export development.
Structure & Oversight
Agriculture and fisheries activities in Oman are governed by a variety of regulations. Royal Decree No. 20 of 2019 – which repealed Royal Decree No. 53 of 1981, the foundational document for the sultanate’s fishing industry – gave the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MoAF) regulatory and supervisory powers over the country’s fisheries. Additionally, this legislation provided the ministry with financial resources to help develop the Oman’s fisheries industry. In August 2020 the government then published Royal Decree No. 92 of 2020, which amended the name of the MoAF to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources (MAFWR).
Agriculture in Oman is governed by two main laws. Royal Decree No. 8 of 2003 regulates the licensing and management of animal resources, including health requirements, oversight responsibilities and property claims. Royal Decree No. 48 of 2006 regulates the usage, maintenance and ownership of agricultural land, in addition to clarifying oversight, penalties and import structures.
The MAFWR is the primary regulatory and planning authority for both agriculture and fisheries in Oman and is led by Saud Hamoud Al Habsi. The body prepares legislation, sets policy, carries out research and implements investment plans to grow the sectors. The authority also implements training programmes to ease the introduction of new technologies and runs initiatives to combat desertification. In September 2023 the MAFWR launched multiple long-term research projects into drought and pest-resistant crops. This was followed by the establishment of a five-year plan to guide the ministry’s investment in the fisheries segment in December 2023. In addition to the MAFWR, the Ministry of Labour also plays a regulatory role in the agricultural and fisheries sectors, primarily related to the licensing of workers – most of whom are expatriates. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning plays a role in regulating zoning and the sale of land for agricultural and fishery use, in addition to the associated infrastructure.
Major Players
The key companies in Oman’s agriculture and fisheries sector can be divided into two categories – one government-owned group, with the remainder serving as private actors.
Fisheries Development Oman (FDO) is a result of a June 2020 merger between government-owned firms Blue Water, Al Wusta Fisheries Industries (AWFI) and Oceanic Shrimp Aquaculture. It is wholly owned by Oman’s sovereign wealth fund, the Oman Investment Authority (OIA). FDO has six subsidiaries, divided into three categories. Its commercial fishing subsidiary is Oman Pelagic, which operates in the Omani Exclusive Economic Zone and in the Indian Ocean. Three subsidiaries operate in FDO’s aquaculture division. Blue Water invests in fish farming projects, as well as operating processing, packaging and logistics facilities, serving as a tool for expertise development in the sector. Natural Shrimp Aquaculture (NSA) and Oriental Shrimp Aquaculture (OSA) are both shrimp farming enterprises. NSA gathered its first harvest at FDO’s first shrimp farm at Wurun in Jalan Bani Bu Hassan in May 2022. The 500-ha site has a capacity of 4600 tonnes per year. Then in May 2023 OSA gathered the first harvest at its 200-ha-facility in Khuwaymah in Jalan Bani Bu Ali. This facility has a production capacity of 3200 tonnes of shrimp per year. Marsa Al Duqm Investment (MADI) and Simak are FDO’s value-added subsidiaries. MADI is a consortium of FDO, AWFI and France’s harbour company Lorient, and develops fishing harbour infrastructure in Oman. Simak is a sardine, mackerel and tuna cannery in Duqm that opened in May 2024 and is the largest of its kind in the GCC.
In September 2024 the OIA announced the merger of FDO and Oman Food Investment Holding Company (Nitaj), the public body focused on promoting food security, with the two entities rebranded as Oman Food Capital. Prior to the consolidation, Nitaj maintained several subsidiaries – although it remains unclear how this may change under the restructuring. At the time of writing, these included Oman Flour Mills, in which it owns a 51% stake; Mazoon Dairy Company, Oman’s largest milk producer; and Al Bashayer Meat Company, the first integrated red meat project in the region. It also holds stakes in the National Veterinary Vaccine Company, an entity that works to develop domestic capabilities for the sector. Nitaj’s date-producing subsidiary, Nakheel Oman Development Company, is the largest date producer in Oman and is building one of the largest date-processing factories in the world, with an expected capacity of 86,000 tonnes per year.
Private Entities
Along with Oman Food Capital’s subsidiaries, there are multiple entities that have minority or no government ownership. Oman Fisheries Company is 24% owned by the MAFWR and is the largest fishing and fish-processing company in the sultanate. Oman Aquaculture Company is a land-based commercial aquacultures operation, established in 2012 as a joint venture between Muscat Overseas Group and South Africa’s Abagold, that focuses on the cultivation of Omani abalone. In the poultry segment, Osool Poultry Company was launched in 2016 with the aim to produce 150m hatchery eggs per year, in efforts to bolster food security and reduce imports. Additionally, Dhofar Food and Investment is a holding company for agriculture, dairy and poultry production.
Policy & Strategy
Oman’s policy regarding agriculture and fisheries activities is guided by a variety of interrelated development plans. Oman Vision 2040 lays out a roadmap for the country’s transition from an oil-reliant to a diversified economy. Agriculture and fisheries play a role in multiple Oman Vision 2040 priorities, including protecting the environment and ensuring the sustainable use of natural resources, boosting the Omanisation of the labour market and driving economic diversification efforts. The roadmap’s 2021 annual report includes 11 fisheries sector projects, including shrimp-farming initiatives, a project to combine traditional fishing techniques with modern equipment and the first steps towards building a fish-processing industry. In the agriculture sphere, Oman is targeting increased domestic capacity to manufacture veterinary medicines, improved MAFWR-led agricultural research and developing the domestic production of livestock fodder.
The Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development Strategy (SARDS) has four key pillars: enhancing economic competitiveness, promoting rural development, improving environmental sustainability and creating an institutional framework. An important goal for SARDS is to alter Oman’s subsidy structure to reward sustainable agriculture in a move to help combat the growing concerns of water depletion, salination, over-grazing and insufficient post-harvest care of fields. It hopes to achieve these goals through a centrally organised land and resource management approach overseen by the MAFWR.
Fishery and aquaculture’s guiding policy is Fisheries and Aquaculture Vision (FAV) 2040. The blueprint builds upon the National Fisheries Development Strategy, which covered the 2013-20 period. FAV 2040 targets profitable fisheries that are not reliant on government investment – as is the case currently. It also aims to grow the aquaculture segment to 100,000 tonnes per year by 2040, up from approximately 5090 tonnes in 2022. The main goal of the aquaculture initiative is farming shrimp, with additional projects aimed at farming fish and growing seaweed. As part of the programme, the government plans to subsidise boats, motors, equipment, and the construction of harbours, markets and housing for fishermen. It also lays out administrative and infrastructural needs, such as ports, vessel monitoring systems and sea councils that will oversee local fisheries. The initiative prioritises establishing a sustainable framework for the industry, while focusing on creating a thriving and resilient future for the fishing and aquaculture sector.
The goal of the sustainable framework is to boost food security in the years leading to 2040. Total food production increased from 3.9m tonnes in 2019 to 4.7m tonnes in 2022, while the value of food rose from OR958m ($2.5bn) to OR1.3bn ($3.4bn) over the same period. According to the Economist Impact’s Global Food Security Index 2022, Oman was the most improved country in the world from 2012 to 2022, and was ranked 35th globally and third in the GCC as of 2022. Oman also has the highest self-sufficiency rate in the GCC, at 40.3% as of 2021, while the regional average stood at 33.6%, according to Dubai-based investment banking advisory firm Alpen Capital. Oman had a self-sufficiency rate of 83.8% for vegetables and 101.4% for fish and eggs.
Economic Contribution
The employment contribution of agriculture, forestry and fishing in Oman is sizeable. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), 130,261 individuals were employed in the agriculture, forestry and fishing segments in 2022, or 6.2% of the labour force. Of these, 90,187 were expatriates and 40,074 Omanis.
According to the Central Bank of Oman (CBO), agriculture, forestry and fishing contributed 2.3% to GDP in 2023. This marked an increase from 2.1% contributions in both 2022 and 2021, and 2.5% in 2020. This is reflected in the output: agriculture, forestry and fishing contributed OR720.7m ($1.9bn) to GDP in 2020, OR803.2m ($2.1bn) in 2021, OR902.4m ($2.3bn) in 2022 and OR966.4m ($2.5bn) in 2023. The sector contributed approximately OR966.4m ($2.5bn) in 2023 at current prices. The NCSI estimated that agriculture and forestry contributed OR556.3m ($1.4bn) and fishing OR410.1m ($1.1bn) in 2023. Quarterly figures from the CBO showed that agriculture, forestry and fishing’s contribution to GDP stood at OR807.6m ($309m) as of the third quarter of 2024, up 9.8% year-on-year from OR735.8m ($1.9bn) over the same period in 2023.
Rising Productivity
Total fish caught has increased: from 748,357 tonnes in 2022 to 793,771 tonnes in 2023. The majority of the 2023 figure, or 706,601 tonnes, was caught by traditional fisheries – defined as those who use traditional methods and stay within 20 nautical miles of the coast – with 76,480 tonnes caught by commercial fishing vessels operating in Oman’s exclusive economic zone and in the Indian Ocean. Aquaculture has also seen growth in recent years, expanding from 1703 tonnes in 2021 to 3468 tonnes in 2022 and 5090 tonnes in 2023.
Food production increased by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13% between 2016 and 2021 to reach 2.8m tonnes. Fish, vegetables, fruits and dairy produced 32.5%, 27.6%, 18.1% and 12.6% of the volume of food, respectively. Fish production expanded at the fastest pace over the period, at an average rate of 27% per year. At the same time, food imports increased by a CAGR of 12.4% over the fiveyear period. Oman was the highest per-capita consumer of food among the GCC countries in 2021, at 1554 kg, higher than the regional average of 905 kg.
According to the NCSI, dairy production reached 232,654 tonnes in 2023, down from 235,601 tonnes in 2022. The sultanate’s cultivated area grew from 163,000 feddans (one feddan is equivalent to 0.42 ha) in 2013 to 293,000 in 2023. Between 2018 and 2023 the number of cows increased from 397,000 to 438,000, camel numbers grew from 268,000 to 296,000, the number of sheep rose from 605,000 to 668,000 and the goat population expanded from 2.3m to approximately 2.5m over the period.
In 2023 Oman produced 3.7m tonnes of crops. Of these, fodder crops made up 1.9m tonnes, with rhodegrass accounting for 1m tonnes and alfalfa with 362,595 tonnes. Vegetables made up 1.2m tonnes, with tomatoes accounting for over 225,000 tonnes and cucumbers 103,000 tonnes. Oman produced 493,000 tonnes of fruit in 2023, primarily consisting of dates at 395,000 tonnes, with bananas accounting for an additional 18,400 tonnes. Field crop output stood at 42,762 tonnes that year, with wheat as the main crop at nearly 8000 tonnes. Total agricultural production has grown steadily, from 1514 tonnes in 2014 to 2951 tonnes in 2018 and 3685 tonnes in 2023. Fodder crops used 41.9% of cultivated land, while fruit crops utilised 28.1% and vegetables 26%. The World Bank estimates that 0.3% of Oman’s land was arable as of 2023, up from 0.1% in 2014. As of 2021, 4.7% of Oman’s land was devoted to agriculture.
The agricultural and fisheries sector plays a minor role in Oman’s exports. Non-fillet frozen fish represented 0.35% of total exports in 2022, valued at $265m, with the top-three destinations being Malaysia, Thailand and Egypt. Rolled tobacco accounted for 0.41% of export earnings, valued at $314m, all of which went to Iran. For fresh products, such as live fish, sheep and goats, other animals and eggs, Oman’s GCC neighbours are the primary destinations. The sultanate’s imported sheep and goats totalled $260m in 2022, wheat imports were valued at $309m and rice imports equalled $241m that year.
Growth Opportunity
The domestic market offers significant potential. As of 2016 the prevalence of obesity for adults in Oman stood at 27%, and the prevalence for diabetes stood at 11.8% as of 2021. The country’s nutrition strategy for 2020-30 aims to reduce the rates of obesity and overweight by encouraging a shift to healthier foods. Early data shows a rising interest in vegetables and fruits, in part spurred by the expatriate community, is generating demand for organic and unprocessed produce – offering an opportunity for the agriculture sector.
Another opportunity for growth lies in the involvement of private capital. Some foreign investors, including the UAE-headquartered Arab Authority for Agricultural Investment and Development, South Korea’s Nongshim Company and Singapore’s Blue Aqua International have invested in Oman, but the role of the private sector in agriculture and fishing remains comparatively limited. As FDO and Nitaj’s involvement in the space indicates, the government plays a key role in terms of financing and subsidies. Two other funds, Future Fund Oman and the Oman Development Bank, are taking steps to create projects and attract additional foreign investment.
Key Projects
Oman has several major developments and project expansions in the pipeline. In 2023 the country’s first olive oil harvests took place, with producers in Al Jabal Al Akhdar yielding 10,000 litres of olive oil valued at an estimated OR200,000 ($520,000). In February 2024 the MAFWR announced plans to establish five new shrimp-farming initiatives that year. In June 2024 the Khazaen Central Market for Vegetables and Fruits commenced pilot operations in Khazaen Economic City. The market, in addition to being a commercial area for agricultural products and seafood, also includes amenities such as a food laboratory, customs area and warehouses, improving the food infrastructure in the greater Muscat area. A similar agri-industrial project is being planned in Dhofar, spearheaded by Nitaj. A fertiliser plant in Salalah that commenced operations in 2023 targeted a quadrupling of its output to 100,000 tonnes by late 2024 – which would fully satisfy Oman’s current fertiliser needs – though updates were unavailable at the time of writing. The Mazoon Dairy Company aims to produce 270m litres of milk by 2028, establishing the sultanate as a milk exporter.
On the technology front, Oman is investing in research to develop plants, especially date trees, that are more resistant to diseases and pests and can better withstand harsh desert conditions. Other government-funded initiatives plan to use leftover products from the date harvest on which to grow alternative proteins to be used for meat substitutes. Hydroponics is also gaining momentum, with some of the Middle East’s largest hydroponic farms being built in conjunction with US and Indian organisations.
Outlook
Consistent, long-term government support has allowed companies to develop financially sustainable practices, with the added benefit of reducing food imports in certain sectors. The country’s diverse landscape gives it an advantage over its GCC neighbours in developing an agriculture sector that is not reliant on climate-controlled buildings, and it is well-positioned to lead the region in fisheries development. While foreign direct investment will play a role, Oman’s improving economic outlook provides room for government funding despite fiscal pressures resulting from supply chain disruptions in recent years. Although agriculture and fisheries contribute around 2% of GDP and require minimal manpower, Oman can become a regional leader in heat-resistant crop research, reaping significant benefits as these technologies continue to grow.
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