http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=132536&d=7&m=2&y=2010&pix=opinion.jpg&category=Opinion
Sunday 7 February 2010 (22 Safar 1431)
Arab self-sufficiency in food
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 [email protected]
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