Tabuk … An Icon of agriculture in the Saudi Kingdom

Tabuk contributes to the promotion and development of the agricultural process in the Kingdom through its production of various types of crops, by hosting 14,500 farms on an area of ​​270,000 hectares.

Tabuk is one of the most prominent regions of the Kingdom in its qualitative agricultural development. The Saudi Ministry of Environment, Agriculture, and Water motivate farmers to advance agriculture by using the latest advanced technologies.

The ministry seeks to obtain the best products for their farms, in addition to supporting agricultural projects and farmers through soft agricultural loans and securing agricultural machinery.

The Ministry of Environment and Agriculture also seeks to secure machines, irrigation pumps, and various agricultural equipment.

This interest has contributed to the development of agriculture in all cities, governorates, centers, and villages of Tabuk.

The region supplies the markets with various crops and agricultural varieties that the region is famous for its production, including the “fig” fruit, starting from July until October of each year.

Tabuk produces 55,000 fig trees on the region’s farms, with more than 150 tons annually.

Mona Al-Balawi, a clinical nutritionist in the region, explained that figs are very rich in potassium, which helps lower blood pressure and maintains a healthy heart.

Figs also contain important fibers for the intestines, in addition to being rich in calcium to maintain bone health and protect against fragility.

Figs are considered one of the safe fruits for diabetics because their glycemic index is low, “an indicator that measures the rate of high blood sugar after eating it.”

Diabetics are always advised to eat fresh figs, not dried ones because the percentage of sugar in dried figs is higher than in fresh.

As for dialysis patients, they should consult a therapeutic nutritionist before taking it; because it is classified as a fruit rich in potassium.

It is noteworthy that the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture indicated that the Kingdom produces 26.6 thousand tons of fig fruit annually and that it achieves self-sufficiency at 107%.

Saudi Arabia is developing the production, processing, and marketing of figs through the Sustainable Agricultural Rural Development Program.

The Kingdom is also working on exploiting and investing opportunities and available resources and taking advantage of the comparative advantage in different regions according to natural resources and agricultural capabilities.