The Sultanate enjoys many genetic economic resources which constitute a treasure trove of wealth for the country, both on land and at sea. These resources require strenuous efforts to discover them, and some of them are related to genetic resources, which represent great commercial opportunities, that requires awareness of individuals, institutions and companies of the importance of exploiting them commercially and establishing projects that can provide thousands of job opportunities for citizens and expatriates.
D. Nadia bint Abu Bakr al Saadiya, Executive Director of the Oman Centre for Animal and Plant Genetic Resources at the Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation, says that these resources include livestock on land as well as aquatic resources in marine life, which requires converting them into commodities to benefit in the process of feeding and medical treatment that can bring benefits to the people of the Sultanate, as is happening in many countries located in Africa and Asia.
Through the establishment of the Omani Centre for Livestock and Water Resources in 2012, it is also working on following up on the development of these resources and promoting their optimal use in the future. The centre’s concern for their sustainability in promoting the genetic diversity of livestock, plants and other microorganisms, and working to highlight them by activating the means knowledge and benefiting from it in the economic and social sectors. It also enhancing its added value through scientific research and innovation, and its exploitation in industries and scientific innovations. Today there are many coral reefs, turtles, plants, birds, livestock and various types of fish in the Sultanate, all of which represent a huge economic wealth. The center also conducts multiplication of some seeds and plants, inventory of fungi, follow-up of the genetic characteristics of gazelle and work on a project to study the genetic characterization of insects, in addition to benefiting from studies and research in order to improve the quality of agricultural and animal production.
The gene bank established by the centre aims to create a database, studies the characteristics and varieties in the Sultanate, preserve the existing plant strains from drought, provide production and resist diseases, in addition to preserving the seeds and types of plants present, as well as preserving animals and knowing their genetic genes and diseases that affect plants and animals.
It was found that these resources can be extracted from various types of medicines and cosmetics, as some types of flowers, plants and palm kernel can be used, for example, in these preparations, in addition to achieving food security by improving the breeds of animal resources in the country.
Some of these types of animal and plant resources are unique to the Sultanate and cannot be seen in other countries, at a time when the center works with Oman’s 2040 vision of sustainability and helping the national economy. It is interested in promoting tourism by paying attention to some types of animals such as deer and scorpions and how to benefit from them in medical work, as well as paying attention to goats and the genes they carry in order to multiply them, besides caring for other animals, whether in the field of nutrition or treatment.
