RIYADH: About SR140 million ($37.3 million) in funding for the honey industry in the Kingdom has helped 10,584 beneficiaries since 2020, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The recipients of the support, provided by Saudi Arabia’s Sustainable Agricultural Rural Development Program, also known as Saudi Reef, come from all parts of the country but the program said those in Asir, Hail, Makkah and Al-Baha regions benefited the most.
Saudi Reef marked World Bee Day on Monday by highlighting its notable achievements so far in supporting the local honey industry. It said production in the Kingdom reached 3,120 tons in 2023, a 41 percent increase compared with 2021, and the aim is to increase annual production to 7,500 tons by 2026 and achieve self-sufficiency.
The program said it has supported several projects vital to the sector, including the establishment of queen bee rearing and package bee production facilities in areas such as Hail, Najran, Jazan, Medina, Tabuk and Taif.
It also supplies modern beekeeping tools and spreads awareness of the latest techniques, and has set up three mobile laboratories to investigate and diagnose bee diseases and pests, along with four mobile clinics.
The program said it remains committed to providing support for beekeepers and implementing projects that benefit the honey industry, in keeping with efforts to achieve sustainable and comprehensive development in the Kingdom.
Saudi Reef aims to support environmental sustainability and diversification of the agricultural production base in the Kingdom, by aiding the development of rural communities and efforts to achieve food security.
It added that its projects provide job opportunities, help improve incomes and standards of living for small farmers, and enhance agricultural capabilities in keeping with the objectives of the Saudi Vision 2030 development and diversification plan.
Saudi Reef program provides $37.3m of support to Kingdom’s honey industry
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Saudi Reef program provides $37.3m of support to Kingdom’s honey industry
- Sustainable Agricultural Rural Development Program celebrates World Bee Day by highlighting its achievements in its support of the sector
- Honey production in the Kingdom reached 3,120 tons last year; aim is to produce 7,500 tons a year by 2026 and become self-sufficient
SR9 million awarded to Saudi students with talent in cultural skills
RIYADH: The Saudi culture and education ministries recently honored pre-university general education students who were winners of the second edition of the Cultural Skills Competition held in Riyadh.
The winners received prizes worth a total of SR9 million ($2.4 million) while the organizers of the competition signed three agreements to support distinguished talents.
Minister of Education Yousef Al-Benyan, Hamed Fayez, deputy minister of culture, officials from the two ministries, Saudi cultural and art pioneers, and parents of the winning students attended the ceremony.
The Cultural Skills Competition is a national contest launched by the Ministry of Culture in partnership with the Ministry of Education, aimed at motivating the younger generations to participate, create and excel in shaping the future of culture and the arts.
The competition features 10 categories: drawing; Arabic calligraphy; filmmaking; photography; strumming; singing; short stories; manga; poetry; and theater. Those categories aim to discover and develop the skills of male and female students in cultural and artistic fields and to achieve the perfect investment of their energies.
Fayez affirmed the Ministry of Culture’s support for the cultural skills of students, noting that such competition contributes to a promising and prosperous future in the cultural sector.
“Education is the basis of our journey to build our cultural capacities. Our strategic partnerships with the Ministry of Education have culminated in many proud achievements, emphasizing the importance of supporting that partnership for greater prospects,” Fayez added.
The winner in each category was awarded SR100,000 ($26,659), while second place received SR75,000 and third was awarded SR50,000, in addition to honoring their parents with financial rewards totaling SR1.4 million.
This year, the competition attracted an impressive turnout and broad interest from students, exceeding 400,000 participants in the various categories, according to Dr. Yousef Al-Hamoud, director-general of student activities at the Ministry of Education.
“Competition among students in such events helps them discover and refine their artistic and cultural skills,” Al-Hamoud said.
Al-Hamoud told Arab News that the success of the Cultural Skills Competition reflects the importance of joint work between the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture, which contributes to developing the cultural and artistic capacities of participants, achieving the goals of Saudi Vision 2030, and building a competitive citizen globally.
During the ceremony, three agreements were signed with strategic partners, to support outstanding talent. The first agreements were concluded with Manga Arabia Co., a company specialized in making creative content, and producing and publishing Arabic and Japanese storyboards. The company will serve as the training platform for manga category participants to learn and master this art and transform the passion of talented students into distinct artistic creations, according to a statement issued by the organizers of the Competition.
The second agreement was concluded with Anghami, a Saudi company working in digital music. It will produce mini-albums, each containing four songs, for the winners of the singing and strumming categories, in addition to holding a specialized training camp that focuses on refining their artistic capabilities.
The third agreement was concluded with MBC Media Solutions, which will host outstanding talents at the MBC Academy, include them in the upcoming skills database of MBC’s business, and provide them with opportunities to appear and shine in multiple fields.
Head of Project Masam: ‘There is a long way to reach a mine-free Yemen’
RIYADH: The head of Saudi Arabia’s Project Masam said there is still a long way to go despite the project having cleared more than 450,000 landmines and explosive remnants of war in Yemen.
“There is still a long way to go to reach a mine-free Yemen”, the project’s managing director, Ousama Al-Gosaibi, said in a statement.
Since at least 2015, Houthi militias have planted landmines — conventional and improvised — in “quantities and sophistication that far exceeds reasonable limits,” Al-Gosaibi said
Masam is a humanitarian land mine clearance project in Yemen launched by Saudi Arabia in 2018. Since launching, Masam teams have cleared more than 450,000 explosive items, the statement said.
Al-Gosaibi said the project continues to perform its work in “exceptional circumstances in every sense of the word, most notably that the military operations and mine-laying operations have not stopped yet.”
He also noted how difficult the work is because of the lack of minefield maps and “the difficulty of the terrain” in which minefields are located or suspected to be located.
Houthi militias continue to advance and evolve the manufacture and planting of these landmines across Yemeni land, he claimed.
Given the difficult circumstances, Al-Gosaibi praised the Yemeni people’s cooperation with the project’s de-mining teams, who in part rely on civilian reports of suspected minefields to carry out their operations.
In that regard, the managing director highlighted the success of awareness-raising campaigns — known as explosive ordnance risk education — aimed at educating the public about the dangers of mines and how to behave should they suspect the presence of landmines or explosive devices.
KSrelief carries out humanitarian projects in Lebanon, Indonesia
The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center has been actively involved in various humanitarian projects across Lebanon and Indonesia.
In Lebanon, KSrelief continued implementing the Al-Amal Charitable Bakery project, in its fourth stage, in the Akkar Governorate and Miniyeh District.
During the past week, the project distributed 150,000 bags of bread to needy families, benefiting 125,000 individuals, including Syrians, Palestinians, and the local host community in northern Lebanon.
KSrelief also funded the ambulance service of the Subul Al-Salam Social Association in the Miniyeh District.
Over the last week, the service carried out 62 emergency missions, including transporting patients to and from hospitals and assisting victims of traffic accidents.
This support is part of a project aimed at enhancing ambulance transport services in Lebanon, including in areas with refugee communities.
In Indonesia, KSrelief concluded a volunteer medical project for pediatric heart surgery in Medan, from June 24 to July 1.
The project involved 27 volunteers from various medical specialties, who performed 25 open-heart surgeries.
Saudi Arabia and Jordan airdrop food aid to the Gaza Strip
- KSrelief and Jordan’s charity group JHCO deliver 30 tonnes of food aid
- KSrelief chief Abdullah Al-Rabeeah says the food aid does not require heating
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia and Jordan airdropped 30 tonnes of ready-to-eat food for besieged Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the Saudi aid agency KSrelief said on Sunday.
In a statement carried by the SPA, the agency said the airdrop was carried out with the Jordanian Hashemite Charity Organization and the Jordanian Hashemite Armed Forces.
The food supplies dropped by air are suitable for immediate consumption without the need for heating, Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabeeah, KSrelief director general, said in the statement.
KSrelief and other aid agencies have resorted to parachute drops of food aid to Gaza to bypass the closure of border crossings by the Israeli occupation forces, which had previously prevented the entry of humanitarian aid to people in the Strip.
Al-Rabeeah called for the opening of border crossings, noting that delivery through airdrops were not sustainable considering the high number of people in need of humanitarian assistance.
He said KSrelief’s campaign for Palestinians to date has collected more than $184 million. The Kingdom also operated an air bridge consisting of 54 planes and a sea bridge consisting of eight ships is still operating.
The US military also built a temporary sea port in Gaza for the delivery of humanitarian aid, but that had been rendered unstable by stormy seas.
More than 2 million Palestinians have been displaced in Gaza since Israel launched a full-scale war in response to the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas militants that killed 1,200 people and in which about 250 hostages were taken, according to official Israeli figures.
The conflict has claimed the lives of more than 38,000 Palestinians, according to the latest count of Gaza health officials.
Extensive damage to Gaza’s infrastructure has caused a healthcare crisis, with an increase in communicable diseases, especially among children, and brought the entire education system in Gaza to a standstill, according to the UN.
New kiswa cover installed at Kaaba in Makkah
- The kiswa weighs 1,350 kilograms and measures 14 meters in height
- Special team of about 200 technicians and craftsmen carry out the installation process
MAKKAH: A new kiswa was installed on Sunday at the Kaaba in Makkah on the first day of the Islamic new year (1 Muharram, 1446h) by the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet's Mosque, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Installation of the elaborately designed black cloth cover was completed by a team from the King Abdulaziz Complex for the Kiswa of the Kaaba, composed of 159 skilled craftsmen under supervision of engineers and technicians specially trained for the complicated process.
As described by SPA, the special work team first removed the gold-embroidered pieces of the Kaaba’s old kiswa while the new one was being brought to the Grand Mosque from the complex.
The Kiswa contains 53 gold-embroidered pieces consisting of 16 for the belt area, seven for under the belt, four corner pieces, 17 lanterns, five pieces for the door curtain, one piece for Al-Rukn Al-Yamani, and two pieces for the Black Stone outline, along with the gutter.
The complex’s operational staff includes 159 skilled craftsmen who work to produce 56 gold-embroidered pieces for the kiswa. Work is done by hand and takes between 60 and 120 days to complete one gold-embroidered piece.
A total of 120 kilograms of gold, 100 kilograms of silver and 1,000 kilograms of silk are used in the production of the kiswa. As one piece, the kiswa weighs 1,350 kilograms and measures 14 meters in height, and consists of four separate sides and a door curtain, according to the complex in charge of kiswa production.
The covering is adorned from the outside with inscriptions woven with black threads.
To install the kiswa, the four sides have to be lifted separately to the top of the Kaaba to allow for the process to be completed. “After all the sides are fixed, the corners are sewed from the top of the covering to the bottom. After that is done, the curtain is placed, which requires time and skill in putting it up. An opening is made in the black fabric that is the size of the curtain, which is approximately 3.33 meters wide until the end of the covering and 6.35 meters long. Then, three openings are made in the black fabric to fix the curtain from under the fabric. Finally, the edges are fixed by sewing them into the black fabric on the covering,” SPA explained.
On May 22, about three weeks before the Hajj pilgrimage, the lower part of the kiswa was raised. The procedure is repeated every year to protect the kiswa from getting soiled and damaged as pilgrims circumambulate the Kaaba.
Previously the kiswa was replaced during the Hajj season, specifically on the morning of Dhul Hijjah 9 after the pilgrims go to Mount Arafat, in preparation for receiving worshippers the next morning, which coincides with Eid Al-Adha.
Last year, Saudi Arabia’s General Presidency for the Two Holy Mosques announced the change in tradition so that the annual event would be held on the eve of Muharram 1, the first day in the Hijri calendar.
Sheikh Abdulrahman Al-Sudais, president of religious affairs for the Two Holy Mosques, said the change was made based on a royal decision.
