SAKAKA: Al-Jouf Gov. Prince Fahd bin Badr will open on Sunday the "Olive Industrial Complex" in Basta area in the region that is owned by Al-Jouf Agricultural Development Company (Al-Jouf).
The factory will have a daily production capacity of 200 tons of olive. Abdul Aziz Al-Hamwan, spokesman for Al-Jouf governorate, said a function will be held on the occasion.
A visual presentation on the company will be shown before the official inauguration ceremony.
Al-Hamwan said the factory will be the first step toward setting up olive industries in the Kingdom. He added that the factory's daily output will be increased to 400 tons of olive in the year 2012.
"The company has a number of ongoing projects to make use of the olive residues to produce soap, coal and cosmetics," he added.
Established in December 1988, Al-Jouf is one of the largest agricultural companies in the Kingdom. It has olive farms extending over 600 sq. kilometers (60,000 hectares). It plans to increase its current 2.6 million olive trees to three million trees next year.
The company is also growing wheat, potatoes, grain and various fruits. Its olive trees increased from 5,73,700 in 2009 to 2.6 million at present.
The yellow grain harvest increased from 8,000 tons in 2008 to 50,000 in 2011. Onion production increased from 25,000 tons in 2008 to 50,000 in 2011 while potatoes increased from 30,000 tons to 50,000 tons at present.
The company has a power generating and distributing unit feeding its utilities and the housing compound with electricity. It has its own telephone network.
© Arab News 2011
