RIYADH: The Saudi General Food Security Authority has disbursed the first installment of payments to local wheat farmers who supplied their allocated quantities for the 2024 season.
The payments were processed and accounts were closed through the authority’s official electronic platform Mahsoly.
The authority said that SR295,177,176 ($78.7 million) was deposited into the bank accounts of 792 farmers, covering a net amount of 175,703 tonnes of wheat.
The authority began receiving local wheat from farmers for the current season on April 21. A total of 552,535 tonnes has been received from 2,751 farmers so far.
The initiative follows the Cabinet’s decision to authorize the authority to purchase up to 1.5 million tonnes of wheat annually from farmers for a period of five years.