Arab World Needs To Invest $100B To Meet Food Demand

Saturday, May 08, 2010

BEIRUT (Zawya Dow Jones)--The Arab world needs to invest more than $100 billion over the coming 20 years to meet growing demand for food from the local population, which is expected to grow to 550 million by 2030, Abha-based Al Watan daily reports Saturday, citing an official.

The private sector should provide about half of the required investments but if Arab governments don't create incentives to boost private sector investments in agriculture, the Arab world will face a food gap worth $71 billion in 2030, Tariq Moosa Al Zadjali, director general of the Arab Organization for Agriculture Development, said according to the paper.

In the short term, the Arab world needs $27 billion until 2015 to fill the gap in crops produced locally, Zadjali said, adding that until last year, Arab countries imported 53% of their needs for grain and 67% of their needs for sugar and oil, the daily reports.


http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm/sidZW20100508000015/Arab%20World%20Needs%20To%20Invest%20%24100B%20To%20Meet%20Food%20Demand