According to a trustworthy source cited by Al-Jarida daily, the Ministry of Social Affairs’ Cooperatives Sector has toughened penalties for cooperative societies’ boards of directors who are not dedicated to implementing the mechanism for the direct purchase of local products at a rate of at least 75% of their actual needs. According to the source, the committee established in accordance with the most recent administrative decision to support the promotion of regional agricultural produce in cooperatives will be in operation for four months. During that time, it will attend auctions and conduct field visits to approved sales outlets, keep track of participating cooperatives and their daily purchase rates, identify any infractions, and then take appropriate legal action.

According to the source, “The committee will submit periodic reports about cooperatives that do not support the promotion of local agricultural products in cooperatives in accordance with Ministerial Resolution number 115/T of 2022.” According to Article 13 of this resolution, cooperatives that commit errors face a range of consequences, from a warning to remedy the infraction to the issuance of a “judicial seizure” report that results in the bank credit being suspended for a predetermined amount of time. Additional sanctions include stopping the cooperative’s dealings with public and private organizations, suspending its employment file in conjunction with the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM), and failing to submit the cooperative’s requests to the relevant ministry committees.

In order to make sure that cooperatives’ daily needs are met, the source went on, the committee will also keep track of the quantity of locally produced goods on the market, calculate the daily purchases of vegetables made by each cooperative, and compare them to the actual demands.