The Assistant Undersecretary for Cooperation Sector Affairs in the Ministry, Ahmed Al-Enezi, has formed a working group to follow up on the support of the national agricultural produce, and the extent of the cooperative societies’ commitment to implementing Ministerial Resolution No. (115/T) regarding support for the promotion of local agricultural product in cooperative societies, which obligates coops to purchase local agricultural produce by participating in the daily auction at the approved marketing outlets, to purchase no less than 75% of their needs, and according to the production output from the approved marketing outlets.
The sources confirmed that the ministry is serious about implementing the direct purchase decision for vegetables and fruits from the approved outlets in Ardhiya and Andalus, stressing that not supporting the farmers is a serious violation that amounts to dissolving the board of directors or isolating some of its members, explaining that the team will be present on a daily basis during the auctions to ensure participation of the cooperatives, in addition to calculating the quantities purchased daily, and ascertaining the needs of the coops them in order to avoid following an improper purchasing policy, reports a local Arabic daily.
“After that, the financial controllers will be appointed to coordinate within the cooperatives to ensure the purchases enter the coops,” and to ensure the products are of high quality and prices are compatible, especially since cooperative work is primarily voluntary, and carries the non-profit tag.