Saudi Reef Says Coffee Output Reached 7,400 Tonnes as Honey Tops 7,000
Saudi Arabia's Sustainable Agricultural Rural Development Program, known as Reef, says domestic coffee output reached 7,400 tonnes in 2026, while honey production exceeded 7,000 tonnes and rain-fed crop output reached 71,000 tonnes. The figures were released by the Saudi Press Agency on October 25 and describe large percentage gains across several rural sectors.
The update is significant because it places hard production figures against Saudi Arabia's effort to build higher-value rural industries beyond large irrigated farms. It is also incomplete. Reef did not identify the comparison years behind its headline growth rates, explain whether the totals cover all national production or only programme-supported activity, or publish the underlying area, yield, rainfall and farm-income data.
That gap does not make the figures unusable. It does mean they should be treated as programme-reported results rather than a fully documented national statistical series.
What Reef reported
For coffee, Reef reported output of 7,400 tonnes and growth of 106 percent. It also said that 4.4 million coffee seedlings planted during 2026 could produce more than 20,000 tonnes of coffee cherries once they reach full production.
For honey, the programme reported production above 7,000 tonnes, up 94 percent. It compared average yields of about 2.2 kilograms from traditional hives with about 5 kilograms from modern hives. On Reef's own figures, the modern-hive yield is roughly 2.27 times the traditional-hive level.
Rain-fed crop output was reported at 71,000 tonnes, an increase of 36 percent. Reef also said its demonstration or model farms achieved yield gains of about 250 percent. Small-scale fishers, meanwhile, were reported to have produced 16,000 tonnes, although the release supplied no growth rate or prior-period figure for that segment.
The implied baselines tell a useful story
Agrilinkage reconstructed the comparison levels implied by Reef's percentage claims. A 7,400-tonne coffee result after 106 percent growth implies an earlier level of about 3,592 tonnes. Honey output of exactly 7,000 tonnes after 94 percent growth would imply about 3,608 tonnes, although the true comparison is slightly higher because Reef said production was more than 7,000 tonnes. Rain-fed output of 71,000 tonnes after 36 percent growth implies a base of about 52,206 tonnes.
These calculations are simple reversals of the reported growth rates, not independent production estimates. They help readers see the scale of change being claimed, but they cannot identify the missing comparison year or resolve whether the scope of measurement changed.
Coffee growth is striking, but the series does not reconcile
An earlier Saudi Press Agency update published on April 6, 2024 said Saudi coffee production reached 1,485 tonnes in 2023 after growing 37 percent from 2020. Compared directly with that figure, the new 7,400-tonne total is almost five times larger, an increase of roughly 398 percent in three years.
That direct comparison is much larger than the 106 percent growth rate in the October 25 release. The most plausible explanation is that Reef used a more recent base year, a different geographic or programme scope, or a different product definition. The release does not say which. Until a consistent annual series is published, the 7,400-tonne figure is best understood as a fresh programme claim with a material comparability caveat.
The seedling projection needs a second distinction. More than 20,000 tonnes refers to coffee cherries expected when the 4.4 million seedlings reach full production. It is not current harvested output, and coffee-cherry weight is not equivalent to green-bean or roasted-coffee weight. Spread across the stated seedling count, the projection implies more than 4.5 kilograms of cherries per seedling at maturity. Actual output will depend on establishment rates, varietal performance, water, farm management, pests and the timing of bearing.
A November 2025 report carried by Arab News, citing Reef, described a target of lifting annual coffee output from 800 to 7,000 tonnes and raising self-sufficiency from 0.5 percent to 4.4 percent. The new 7,400-tonne claim is above that tonnage target, but it does not provide an updated self-sufficiency estimate or import data.
Honey is close to a published 2026 target
The Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty's profile of Reef lists a target of 7,500 tonnes of annual national honey production by 2026. Reef's new figure of more than 7,000 tonnes therefore places reported output close to that target, but the wording matters. The target is framed as national output, while the new release does not clearly define whether its number is national, attributable to supported producers, or compiled through another programme measure.
The hive comparison is operationally important. If modern hives consistently produce about 5 kilograms against 2.2 kilograms for traditional units, conversion could raise output without a proportional increase in hive numbers. Yet the release provides no sample size, location mix, season, bee species, forage conditions or disease data. It should not be read as a controlled national productivity study.
The production update also follows a new Saudi beekeeping development plan reported by Apimondia on October 22, involving five projects and investment of SAR48.2 million. Together, the plan and the output claim indicate that beekeeping remains both a rural-income programme and a food-production priority.
Rain-fed crops need weather and area data
A 36 percent increase in rain-fed crop output could reflect better seed, extension, mechanisation and farm practice. It could also reflect a larger planted area or more favourable rainfall. Production alone cannot separate these effects. Yield per hectare, planted and harvested area, seasonal rainfall, crop mix and regional coverage are necessary before attributing the change to technology or management.
The claimed 250 percent yield increase on model farms deserves even more caution. Demonstration plots often receive closer technical support, better-timed inputs and stronger monitoring than surrounding farms. Without the number of farms, baseline yield, control group and crop-level results, the figure demonstrates reported potential within selected sites, not a representative national gain.
Why the update matters
Saudi agricultural strategy is often discussed through food-import dependence and water constraints. Reef's portfolio addresses a different part of that equation: geographically specific products and livelihoods in rural areas, including coffee, honey, rain-fed cereals, small ruminants, fisheries and aquaculture. These sectors can add local value and income even when they do not replace large import flows.
Coffee and honey are particularly relevant because quality, traceability and processing can carry more economic value than raw tonnage alone. A larger coffee crop can support nurseries, washing and drying, roasting, quality laboratories, packaging and origin marketing. More honey can support queen breeding, hive equipment, testing, branded regional products and pollination services. The commercial test is whether output gains translate into stable quality, farmer income and competitive routes to market.
Rain-fed crops raise a different strategic question. They may diversify local grain and fodder supply with less irrigation than fully irrigated systems, but rainfall variability makes year-to-year production volatile. Multi-year yield and area series are more informative than a single growth claim, particularly in an arid country where water accounting is central to agricultural policy.
What would verify the gains
The next useful disclosure would be a sector-by-sector time series with a fixed definition of production. It should identify the comparison year, distinguish national output from Reef-supported output, and publish harvested area and yield alongside tonnes.
For coffee, the programme should separate fresh cherries, dried parchment, green beans and roasted product, while reporting the number of bearing trees rather than only seedlings distributed. For honey, it should show hive counts, yield distributions, forage regions and losses. For rain-fed crops, crop-level area, rainfall and regional yields are essential. Fisheries data should distinguish wild catch from aquaculture and clarify whether the 16,000 tonnes are landed by programme beneficiaries or by the broader small-scale fleet.
Prices and household income are the final test. More output can raise rural earnings when quality and market access improve, but rapid expansion can also pressure farm-gate prices. Production figures are therefore a starting point for evaluating Reef, not the full result.
Sources and methodology
Primary source: Saudi Press Agency, October 25, 2026. Agrilinkage calculated implied comparison levels by dividing each reported 2026 total by one plus the stated growth rate. Calculations were rounded to the nearest tonne and do not resolve the programme's undisclosed base periods.
This article distinguishes current production from future projections and treats Reef's figures as programme-reported claims. No interviews or firsthand farm observations were conducted.
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