Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – Saudi Coffee Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Kingdom’s Public Investment Fund, on Sunday announced the setting up of a model coffee farm across one million square meters of farmland in Jazan, home to the world-famous Coffea Arabica.
Saudi Coffee Company aims to grow five million coffee trees by 2030 on the farm. It will add an 1,835-square-metre nursery that is projected to boost the seedlings’ yield in Jazan and the wider region.
The farm will establish global standard operating procedures, elevating the quality of Coffea Arabica, Saudi Arabia’s signature coffee type. The farm will also provide a template for the optimum use of water in the region, especially when levels are down during the dry season.
The launch of the model farm is a cornerstone of Saudi Coffee Company’s plans to increase the coffee production capacity from 300 to 2,500 tons annually in 2023 so as to boost Saudi Arabia’s export of the high-quality coffee beans to the global markets. Over the next ten years, the Saudi Coffee Company intends to invest nearly SAR 1.2 billion ($320 million) to meet this goal.
“We have a strong legacy of coffee cultivation here in Jazan, having produced the famed Coffea Arabica for generations for the domestic market,” the CEO of Saudi Coffee Company Khalid AbuTheeb said. “The time has come for us to broaden our horizons and I hope that the model farm will serve as a benchmark for the coffee community in the southern region, Saudi Arabia, and beyond.”
He continued: “When Saudi Coffee Company was set up in 2021, our primary goal was to ensure that the national coffee industry is enabled along its entire value chain, from bean to cup. The model farm is the first step towards the realization of that vision, helping us lay the foundations for a world-class coffee industry in Saudi Arabia, making Coffea Arabica from Saudi Arabia a major player in the global marketplace.”
The model coffee farm will also be a platform for the region’s coffee producers to upskill their talent, understand the newest sustainable farming practices, and navigate the latest technologies across the planting and harvesting. The farm will create new opportunities for Jazan’s coffee plantation owners and farmers, providing exposure and access to international coffee experts. The farm will also promote knowledge sharing on growing and grading methods to help farmers select better quality seeds, refine their farming methods, manage their resources more efficiently, and pilot new techniques to increase quality yield.