Arab self-sufficiency in food
Posted by Arab News
Sunday 7 February 2010 (22 Safar 1431)
Turki Faisal Al-Rasheed | Arab News



FOOD security is the ability of a nation or community to secure its needs of basic food commodities by producing them locally or importing the best quality from abroad at lowest prices. The greater the self-reliance on food needs the less political pressure a nation will face. Exporting countries, particularly in times of crisis, need to keep most of their products for their people. Therefore, and in case of food shortage at global level and weak international competition, these countries keep the best quality for them and export the worst ones for highest prices.

The Arab world is suffering acute food shortage and the financing of food imports has become a tremendous burden on most Arab countries as it depletes a large amount of national income without covering the shortage in most of food commodities in the Arab countries, especially wheat.

The decline in domestic production and increasing dependence on imports have weakened the capabilities of the Arab countries to become self-sufficient. This constitutes a greater danger to their citizens, because what are imported are essentials and have no alternatives and cannot be dispensed with.

In addition to the external factors, there are negative aspects in the Arab countries that have deepened the problem. The population increase has exceeded the average growth rates in agricultural production, a matter that led to an imbalance in the supply and demand conditions. At the same time the migration from rural areas to cities led to urban expansion at the expense of agricultural lands.

The lack of sufficient water resources and misuse of these resources as well as the dependence on irrigated agriculture have increased the rate of water consumption, especially the groundwater to the extent that many people, especially in Saudi Arabia, accuse farmers of wasting the national water resources.

In addition, cultivated area in Arab countries has declined to one third of the cultivable lands. There are many reasons for this such as the lack of optimal use of all resources to compensate for the big shortage in food commodities, the absence of unified Arab action to develop agricultural exports and an inability to strike a balance between locally produced food and imported ones.

TO this should be added the neglect of research and development in the field of seeds at a time when international companies conduct research on seeds that need little quantities of ordinary water and high saline water. In addition, subsidies to farmers have decreased while the prices of agricultural inputs have gone up. There are also restrictions on the terms of delivery of the harvest in the “silos” by permitting the delivery of limited quantities compared to the full capacity of the agricultural projects. This makes farmers go for delivery permits from other people who have permits but have no farms for higher amounts deducted from their profits. In this connection, it should be noted that there is a need to issue delivery permits in accordance with the production capacity of the farms. Permits should be granted only to those farmers who have actually cultivated their farms. In addition, farmers are compelled to sell their crops to the government for prices fixed by the government itself, forcing some to abandon their farms.

Production of food commodities in terms of size and type is governed by the policies of the big powers in the world, which have turned some of these commodities such as wheat, sugar, and rice into strategic commodities used as a weapon against poor or underdeveloped countries to subdue them to serve their own interests. The problem worsens in the event of international crises such as those we are currently experiencing.

WE must make the best use of the huge agricultural potentials in the Arab world by overcoming the problems that prevent the exploitation of their full use. All this must be handled in a comprehensive development perspective to make the optimum utilization of the components of the agricultural sector. Attention also must be paid to the decline of the agricultural economy in these countries, noting that agriculture is still a vital source of living for a large number of people. What is more, it has to do with food security, which affects human beings and their very existence.

It is necessary to make investment laws in the Arab countries flexible and to encourage Arab funds to achieve development and production of wheat in Arab lands using Arab water. It was recently said that in Sudan there are 70 million acres of nonexploited flat lands suitable for agriculture. What is the point in keeping these lands nonproductive?

I am afraid that this is because of the rules regarding investment procedures and the lack of incentives. In Egypt, the state granted barren lands at an encouraging price to students who graduated from agriculture colleges. Then after the graduates reclaimed the lands at their own expenses, the government asked them to pay new prices valued on the basis of reclaimed lands.

It is necessary to direct investments to projects that reduce the size of the food gap and raise the possibility of achieving food security. It is also necessary to provide financial support and technical assistance to projects designed for exports to make them more competitive in world markets and capable of meeting the subsidies provided by countries to support their exports. It is also necessary to implement procedures that protect the lives and health of humans, animals and plants. This should be done without imposing new restrictions on crops trade.

The industrialized world is also part of the problem, as they increase the demand for biofuels. For example, in Indonesia and Malaysia there is a continuous increase in the exploitation of vast agricultural areas to grow plants used in biofuels industry. Palm trees are used for production of oil. This led to a rise in the prices of vital crops needed by the people, such as corn and wheat. Therefore we must support the international institutions that fight against such practices.

We must develop food crops that give high productivity, resist diseases and need little water or accept saline water. We should also look for better ways of irrigation that keep the plants alive and do not deplete our water resources quickly. This can be achieved only through participation in international conferences and training national cadres to undertake their responsibility in this regard.

Food security keeps us away from foreign interference and alleviates poverty of the people. We must implement integrated agricultural policies in all Arab countries to bridge the gap between the production of food crops and the total demand for them. This way we will be able to achieve food sufficiency for all Arab people.

— Turki Faisal Al-Rasheed is a Saudi businessman based in Riyadh

and can be contacted at tfrasheed@goldengrass.com


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