Agriculture Minister Florin Barbu visited on Wednesday one of the largest and most important companies in the Middle East, Almarai, which owns dairy farms and processing units, but which also invests heavily in the livestock sector, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR) announced in a Facebook post.

The head of the MADR is currently on an official visit to Saudi Arabia, together with Secretary of State Sorin Moise.

According to MADR, the visit started at the cow farm, where the Romanian delegation saw how the animals are raised and fed. At present, Almarai farms produce 4 million liters of milk per day, an average of 42 litres per cow per day, about double the European average.

After visiting the farm, the minister of Agriculture together with the delegation from MADR went to the processing plant, where they saw the production lines and discussed various topics, including poultry breeding, an area being developed at Almarai through significant investments.

Barbu reported that Romania’s self-sufficiency in this sector is 160% and that there are very efficient farms producing high quality feed (90% corn) for fattening chickens, and that in the near future the capacity will be increased by another 100 million heads.

The Saudi side showed interest in the production of poultry in Romania, and the minister of Agriculture said that he will share the experience of these days with the associations of the sector in Romania, so that the interested parties can enter dialog.

On Thursday, July 4, a Memorandum of Understanding will be signed between the Romanian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on cooperation in agriculture.

AGERPRES