Saudi farmers seek expansion of Dammam vegetable market

Farmers have asked the municipality to establish more shades to protect their agricultural products from sun. "We are looking forward to see greater progress and prosperity for the market matching with the Kingdom's economic growth," one farmer said.

The farmers have presented a memorandum to the governorate, emphasizing the need to reorganize the central vegetable and fruit market in Dammam. "Only one sunshade is allocated for national agricultural products," they said.

This will not be enough considering the substantial increase in number of farmers during the past three decades when their number has gone up 10 times.

The farmers said a single sunshade would not be enough to hold agricultural products of all farmers in the region. Only half of this area is allocated for farmers and trucks carrying agricultural products are not given access to the other half.

"This is a big problem," said one farmer. He also pointed out that some customers park their cars in the area allocated for trucks to unload agricultural products. He proposed putting of signboards in the area to ban parking of customer vehicles.

The Saudi farmers also opposed the move to keep imported agricultural products in the sunshade allocated for national products. "This is a violation of the law set by the municipality," one farmer said.

They wondered why the municipality officials were not taking the initiative to remove foreign products from the area even after receiving complaints.

Farmer Ali Al-Mazrouk said most of his colleagues were facing the increased presence of foreign products in the market, incurring them heavy losses. He also noted the problem caused by the parking of cars by customers in the area for loading and unloading agricultural products in the market.

"This situation has negatively affected the smooth flow of national products and their sales," said Al-Marzouk. Hussain Mudn, another farmer, said the market required more shaded areas to keep national agricultural products.

During the agricultural season from October to May, a large quantity of products arrive in the market from various parts of the Eastern Province. The market also receives agricultural products from other parts of the Kingdom during this season.