Arab Food Security Gap ….. And Integral Solution
By: Turki bin Faisal Al Rasheed
Food security is the ability of a community to secure its need of basic food commodities by producing food locally or having the possibility to getting it from abroad at the best standards and lowest prices. The greater the self dependence on food needs the less political pressure the society will face. For exporting countries – particularly in times of crisis as we are experiencing now – need to keep most of their products for their peoples. Therefore, and in case of food shortage at the worldwide level and weak international competition, these countries keep the best quality for them and export the worse ones for highest prices. The Arab world is suffering an acute food shortage and financing of food imports has become a tremendous burden on most of the financial budgets in most Arab countries as it depletes a large amount of the Arab national income while it does not cover the shortage in most of food commodities in the Arab countries, especially wheat.
The decline in domestic production and the increased reliance on importing of food commodities have weakened the capabilities of the Arab countries to become self-sufficient. This constitutes a great danger to their citizens, because the imported food commodities are essential and have no alternatives and can not be dispensed with. In addition to the external factors, there are negative aspects in the Arab countries which have deepened the problem. The population increase has exceeded the average rates of growth of agricultural production, a matter which led to an imbalance in the supply and demand of food commodities.
While 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, accused farmers of wasting the national water. In addition, the existence of a large number of handicaps in the Arab agricultural countries are among the causes which led to the decline of cultivated area to one third of the cultivatable lands include.
These include lack of the optimal use of all resources to compensate the big shortage of food commodities as well as the absence of unified Arab action to develop the agricultural exports and imports to bridge the gap through collective bargaining terms that strengthen their negotiation abilities and realize a balance between locally produced food and imported ones. They also include negligence of research and development in the field of seeds at the time when international companies conduct research on the seeds that need little quantities of ordinary water and highly saline water.
In addition, subsidies are cut from farmers while the prices of agricultural inputs are increased. There are also restrictions on the terms of delivery of the harvest in the “silos” by permitting delivery of limited quantities compared to the full capacity of the agricultural projects. This makes farmers seek to get 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 need to issue permits in accordance with the production capacity of the farms and to grant permits only to farmers who have actually cultivated their farms.
In addition farmers are compelled to sell their crops to the government only for prices fixed by the government itself and these results in making farmers abandon their farms. Summary – The production of food commodities in terms of size and type is governed by the policies of the dominant countries in the world, which have turned some of these types of commodities such as: wheat, sugar, and rice into strategic goods used as a main weapon against weak people to subdue them to serve their own interests. – The problem deteriorates in the event of international crises such as those we are currently experiencing and unable to overcome in all senses of this word. – It has become an urgent obligation for us to assess the necessary requirements to supply our food needs as a prerequisite for promotion of the Arab agricultural economy in the foreign trade. We must make the best use of the huge agricultural potentials in the Arab world by overcoming the problems that prevent the exploitation of these potentials.
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 serious risks related to decline of the agricultural economy in these countries, noting that agriculture is still a vital source of living for a large number of their peoples and that 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 provide bread from Arab lands and Arab water.
It was recently said that in Sudan there are 70 million acres of non exploited flat lands suitable for agriculture. What is the wisdom to keep these lands non-productive so far? I am afraid that this is because of the inflexible investment procedures and the lack of incentives. In Egypt, the State granted barren lands to graduates of Agriculture colleges for encouraging prices. 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.
This was done by Egypt against its people, so what it will do to the Arab investors? – It is necessary to direct the 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 facing the subsidies provided by countries to support their exports. – It is also necessary to implement procedures that guarantee the life and health of humans, animals and plants. This should be applied without imposing new restrictions on in agricultural crops trade. – The industrialized world is also part of the problem, by increasing the demand for bio-fuels. For example, in Indonesia and Malaysia there is a continuous increase in the exploitation of vast agricultural areas to grow plants used in bio-fuels industry such as palm trees which are used for production of oil.
This led to the increase of the prices of vital crops needed by the population of these countries, such as corn and wheat. Therefore it is a must to support the international legitimate institutions that fight against such practices. – The principle of sovereignty requires us to develop food crops that give high productivity, resist diseases and need little water or accept saline water. It also requires us to 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 participations in international conferences, and training of national cadres to undertake their responsibility in this regard. – The food security prevents this nation from adding foreign calamities to its internal ones which lead to undermining its social environment, and increasing the poverty of the poor people as well as pushing the middle-income groups to join the majority of low-income people who are below the globally known poverty line.
Whoever is aware of the reality of the gap of Arab food security must agree with me on the importance of starting to implement local integral agricultural policies at the level of all Arab countries to bridge this gap, and to be able at the end to achieve food sufficiency for all Arab peoples. For one who possesses power possesses his own decision