The Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture is taking vigorous steps towards regulating groundwater sources and developing the agricultural sector in the Kingdom, in line with the strategic goals of the 'Saudi Green Initiative'.

Amid these regulatory efforts, a wide segment of farmers in the Eastern Province express the need for greater flexibility and procedural facilitations, as the deadline for declaring unlicensed wells approaches on the fifth of Safar this month.

Support for State Plans

Farmers unanimously affirm their full support for the state's regulatory plans aimed at preserving and sustaining natural resources, but they hope the ministry will respond to their demands for an extension of the deadline, given the overlap of procedural, technical, and field factors that require additional time to fully complete regulatory requirements.

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Challenges of Time and Weekend

The challenges begin with the limited time available for farmers to rectify their status. After attending an advisory workshop on well licenses, farmers Mahdi Muways, Ahmed Shehab, and Muhammad al-Sulayman explained that the remaining time actually amounts to only one working day, which is Sunday, the fifth of Safar.

Farmers noted that the announcement of the approaching deadline on Thursday coincided with the start of the weekend, slowing down the pace of work. This coincidence led to extreme difficulty for surveying offices in covering all farms, especially those in geographically remote areas such as 'Abu Ma'n' and 'Tufayh', which require longer travel time and precise surveying.

In this regard, farmers Hassan Silis and Basim al-Muslim called on the Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture to grant farmers an additional grace period of at least 15 to 20 days. They stressed that this extension would ensure that everyone declares in a systematic and accurate manner without haste, taking into account the daily field burdens farmers face by nature of their work.

Financial Aspect and Communication Channels

The financial aspect is a concern for some farmers due to fines resulting from delays. Farmer Dalia Habib expressed her fears of those fines, which amount to 30,000 riyals, pointing to the need to enhance proactive awareness agricultural workshops to avoid the knowledge gap in the declaration mechanism. She added: 'I own a plot of land in the name of my deceased father, and the time remaining to avoid the fine is very short. We hope for an extension of the deadline and intensification of guidance courses for farmers to avoid any penalties.'

Regarding communication mechanisms, farmer Zaki al-Marhun highlighted the importance of developing channels for notifying farmers of decisions, explaining that he learned about the deadline and the meeting by chance through a social media group. He called for adopting direct text messages like electricity and water bills to ensure notification reaches everyone and to establish accountability for the negligent, especially since the ministry has farmers' contact data.

Technical Capabilities and Field Reality

Farmers touched on the disparity in technical capabilities as one of the factors affecting the speed of completing procedures. Farmer Muhammad al-Sab' raised this crucial point, stating that there is a large group of elderly people who cannot handle computers and electronic platforms. He added: 'Even young people sometimes encounter unclear points on the electronic platform. We suggest allocating a support office in branches to help farmers manually complete procedures such as surveying, so that we can all contribute to achieving the Kingdom's green vision without overburdening the farmer.'

Additional Grace Period

Farmer Ibrahim al-Khawahir supported this proposal, pointing out that elderly people spend their days in their farms away from digital updates, requiring an additional grace period of one to two months to rectify their status properly. On the field level, farmer Haydar al-Qassab reviewed the difficulties facing owners of 'agricultural plots' in obtaining an independent agricultural register for each plot, and the associated services such as electricity.

Meanwhile, farmer Hassan Al Hilal described some requirements as difficult in practice, explaining that he was asked for a photo and catalog of the submersible water pump, noting that the pump has been buried underground for many years, and the seller informed him that catalogs for these devices are not available, questioning how to obtain such data in a few days.

Ministry Clarifies and Simplifies Procedures

For its part, the ministry responded to these observations during the advisory workshop. Engineer Khalid al-Fakhr explained that the ministry was keen to facilitate and simplify application requirements through the electronic platform, stressing that attaching the required documents goes through flexible and straightforward steps. Al-Fakhr stated that the basic requirements include the title deed to prove land ownership, and a survey report exclusively from one of the approved consulting offices. The requirements also include attaching the well drilling license or declaration form, a clear photo of the pump with the catalog to determine its capacity, and specifying the purpose of water use accurately.

Developed Agricultural Register

Engineer al-Fakhr acknowledged some observations related to the 'Developed Agricultural Register' system, affirming that the ministry is working diligently to expedite the completion of procedures and remove obstacles for farmers. Al-Fakhr concluded by expressing hope that communication efforts with the ministry would lead to an extension of the regulatory deadline to meet farmers' wishes, while urging everyone to take the initiative and start registration procedures immediately without delay to ensure the continuity of their agricultural work in a regulatory manner.