The Ministry of Agriculture has begun a survey of the Kingdom's organic farms to assess the number of locations and draw up laws governing organic farming techniques. The ministry's Director of Organic Farming, Abdul Al-Derwish, has sent a request to the General Administration for Agricultural Affairs for a list of all the farms detailing size and crop types. “Organic farming is an ecological production management system that promotes biodiversity,” Al-Drewish said. “It is based on the minimal use of outside input and on the use of products that restore and improve ecological harmony.” The Council of Ministers gave the go-ahead for a Saudi Society for Organic Farming two years ago to give the practice legal status and encourage what Al-Derwish described as “a vital source of healthy, high quality food produced free of harmful chemicals”. “Organic farming preserves the soil as it relies on crop rotation, biological pest control and mechanical cultivation,” Al-Derwish said, noting that many large farms in the Kingdom have already introduced the practice.
