Programme Overviews
1 Intajee Al Mussanah Omran aimed to create a sustainable business and thus a source of income for Al Batinah region farmers. The produce identified for the project included honey, dates, eggs, fruits and vegetables.
Launching Intajee Al Mussanah products in LuLu Hypermarket Intajee products on the supermarket shelf
The objective of the project included; improving the quality of the produced goods through training for the farmers, increasing the market value of the products by providing the farmers with proper 100% Omani made packaging materials, and promoting the products to the wider market. 24 Omanis have benefited through the Intajee project in Al Mussanah. The 15 individuals who were interviewed (13 men and 2 women) were farmers and bee keepers. Through the projects the individuals were provided training courses in business management and finance and were instructed on effective techniques for packaging and marketing their goods. All trainers involved in the projects were Omani. The project also provided some relevant equipment including; a pasteurisation machine, butter separation machine, coolbox for dairy produce, automatic egg incubator, automatic separation machine and bee-keeping tools which would assist the beneficiaries in yielding high quality produce. In terms of packaging, a variety of sizes for bottles and containers were selected based on production requirements. Additional care was taken to ensure that the new packaging
wasn’t significant change from what the farmers and consumers were accustomed to. All materials used to package, bottle and brand the products were also sourced locally by Omran, in turn serving to enhance the quality and authenticity of the products and project. The new packaging was supplied to the farmers at the end of the training workshop. Launched in August 2011, the Intajee Al Mussanah project focused on the production of poultry – eggs and dairy – milk and milk products such as Laban, cheese and ghee, honey – both Sidr and Sumur, dates – fresh and dried dates and date molasses, fruits and vegetables. Through this project Omran was also able to compile the first directory of producers and farmers in region to help market their products in the future. The following government and non-governmental organisations were engaged and partnered with Omran in this project: Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Department of Agricultural Development at Al Mussanah, Department of Rural Women in Al Batinah Governorate, and Agriculture Association for Al Batinah Region Farmers. Through Intajee Al Mussanah, the Omani Women Association held five exhibitions to help women market their Intajee products. At exhibitions and markets outside Al Mussanah, the products were sold at double the original price, enhancing the income of producers. For example if a product was originally worth OMR 1 it sold for OMR 2 (twice outside Al Mussanah).