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Oman biosecurity project going ahead following Prime inputs on feasibility and design
Pictured: Veterinary Technical Specialist Dr Jim Young, left, and Prime Group Chairman Dr Alan Pearson in Oman.
An ambitious biosecurity project for Oman’s livestock sector is going full steam ahead, following technical input from Prime in the feasibility and design stages.
Prime recently collaborated with UK-based firm Altra Capital to design and test the feasibility of a proposed partnership between the Government of Oman and the private sector to establish new Animal Quarantine Centres across the country.
This includes replacement of existing facilities and upgrading of total quarantine capacity through new sites.
Livestock generally reaches Oman import facilities from the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea after being shipped via the Horn of Africa.
This creates several unique challenges, including managing disease import risks, says Dr Jim Young, the Veterinary Technical Specialist for this project.
A key challenge of the design and feasibility work was establishing a mechanism for managing safe trade that protected food security, mitigated risks but also, and importantly, did not create upward price pressure of staple livestock products in Oman.
“Another challenge was compiling and analysing a large amount of data from multiple sources. We had to manage this carefully. And one other interesting thing is, in Oman, they count sheep and goats together and call them shoats," says Dr Young.
Having approved the final design for a public-private partnership, the Government is now seeking applications from private companies to establish the centres and manage ongoing operations.
The aim of the project is to strengthen Oman’s national biosecurity, aligned with the country’s ambition to become a regional hub for livestock trade and re-export.
Dr Young says the new network of Animal Quarantine Centres will ensure Oman is well positioned to protect its valued culture and traditions while also bringing cutting edge technology to manage risks that invariably exist within protein value chains.
“It is very encouraging to hear the PPP is proceeding after the team spent over a year working on the project with our Omani client. A huge amount of work went into not only working through the available data and building a profile of the livestock value chain but also understanding both the national and regional dynamics that heavily impact the trade of live animals in the Middle East.”
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