MUSCAT : A contract was signed on Tuesday, May 6, between the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), with funding from the Al Jisr Foundation.

The project seeks to support economic development, empower rural women and enhance the value chain of dairy products.

The factory is set to start operations during the first quarter of 2026. It is envisaged to process quantities ranging from 500 litters to two tons of camel milk per day, with plans in place to gradually increase operational capacity to 5 tons by the end of the first year of operation, and later to more than 15 tons.

The factory’s products will include the production of fresh and semi-hard cheeses, with future plans to produce hard cheese, condensed milk, milk desserts and ice cream.

In its first stage, the factory will empower 20 rural women from the Omani Women’s Association in the Wilayat of Rakhyut, Dhofar Governorate. It will enable the women’s role in supporting the local food production sector, in addition to developing the production and marketing camel products.

The empowered women took part in capacity-building programmes and benefited from intensive workshops and training courses that honed their skills and raised their awareness about quality standards, food safety, finance, marketing and small business management.

The contract signing ceremony was held under the auspices of His Excellency Dr. Ahmed Nasser Al Bakri, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources for Agriculture.

It’s worth noting that Dhofar Governorate is a major camel habitat in the Sultanate of Oman. Statistics of the year 2023 show that Dhofar Governorate houses approximately 177,821 camels, making Dhofar a vital centre for the camel dairy industry.

For all the latest news from Oman and GCC, follow us on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn, like us on Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube page, which is updated daily.