University of Arizona speech
Date: 30th September 2011
Ladies and Gentlemen
Opening remarks
Welcome,
I would like to thank all of you for attending our talk today. Special Thanks to Dr. Gene Sander, the Interim President of my Alma Mater, the University of Arizona and to the University Community for your gracious hospitality. I would also like to thank all the people who made this possible. Dr. Shane Burgess, Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and his colleagues, Dr. Colin Kaltenbach, Dr. Kevin Fitzemons, Mr. Jim Davis, Mr. Scott Koenig for hosting me today. I would also like to thank Mr. Hassan Hijazi, Director of External Affairs at Biosphere 2 for coordinating my visit and presentation with CALS.
I am deeply honored to have this opportunity to give this talk today about “The role of Agriculture and how it will enhance food security and the promotion of economic growth”. I am so delighted to be back to my Alma Mater after 30 years. I graduated from the agriculture engineering college in 1980, and have since, in tandem with my role as Chairman of Golden Grass Inc, strongly pursued the issue of agricultural development strategies in my country (Saudi Arabia) and others. This interest led to my completion of a DBA at Liverpool John Moores University.
Before I give the PowerPoint presentation which I have prepared, I would like to preface it with these observations:
The Arab region faces growing challenges to the security of its population, along with environmental stresses. Potential conflicts originating in competition for dwindling natural resources may heavily strain relations among communities, population and states, Arab and non-Arab. These challenges will result from population and demographic pressures, the overexploitation of land, water shortages, desertification, pollution, and climate change. One clear sign of the vulnerability of Arab economic growth is its high volatility. Tied to capricious oil markets, the region’s economic security has been and remains hostage of exogenous trends.
Water resources are unevenly distributed on the Earth’s surface. While the world as a whole may arguably have sufficient water to support its inhabitants, this water is not equally distributed amongst countries and regions. Lack of water resources is a common predicament in many countries in North Africa, Middle East, Central and South Asia. Water scarcity has become an increasing constraint to these countries’ economic development, particularly with regard to food production – the biggest water user.
One minute requirement of a one Center Pivot is equivalent to the usage of a one month water requirement per person in a rich country. (1,500 gpm vs 200 liters per day per person)
An example of this is the water used to grow wheat. Some Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia, have now introduced a policy of decreasing home wheat production and increasing wheat imports. The Saudi wheat requirement is currently a minimum of 2.6 million tons per year. In 2010 Saudi Arabia produced 1.1 million tons of wheat. It is estimated that Saudi will need to import 3.0 million tons of wheat by 2016.
As a whole, Middle Eastern countries import at least 50 percent of the food calories they consume. As the largest net importers of cereals, Arab countries are more exposed than other countries to severe swings in agricultural commodity prices, and their vulnerability will probably be exacerbated in coming years by high population growth, low agricultural productivity, and dependence on the global commodities’ market. (The World Bank, 2009)
It is estimated that the world will require 83 billion USD investments in agriculture to be able to feed its projected 9.1 billion inhabitants in 2050. This statistic means that we must increase agricultural production by 70%. (FAO)
The FAO anticipates food demand will jump by 60% from the present to 2030.
Access to food is still perceived by many as a privilege, rather than a basic human right, and thousands of people around the world die each day from hunger.
A country and people are food secure when their food system operates in such a way as to remove the fear that there will not be enough to eat. In particular, food security will be achieved when the poor and vulnerable, particularly women and children and those living in marginal areas, have secure access to more food than they want (Maxwell 1988).
The presentation you will now see details and addresses these challenges, and gives some possible solutions. I hope you will enjoy it – and I will be taking questions at the end.