The Saudi Economy Conference Challenges and Opportunities

The Saudi Economy Conference Challenges and Opportunities

Agricultural Development Strategies: the Saudi Experience

With the world food crisis in 2008 contributed to soaring food prices. The Government of Saudi Arabia has raised questions about the long-term prospects of food security, alleviation of poverty and promotion of economic growth.  The issues of scarcity of water, soaring food prices, population growth, high unemployment, environmental degradation, and reductions in arable land combined with the effect of urbanization, economic development and security concerns have led to the government introducing measures from self-sufficiency to deflationary policies in food production.

The Arab world imports 50 to 90 percent of the food calories they consume. They are the largest net importers of cereal.

Arab countries are more exposed than other countries to food prices’ volatility. Their vulnerability will worsen in coming years due to ballooning population growth, low agricultural productivity, and the dependence on a global commodities market. (The World Bank, 2009)

Poverty and unemployment are the main motivating factors for mass demonstrations, overthrown governments or descent into civil war, e.g., Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen, Syria and Bahrain.  Officially the Kingdom’s unemployment rate is 10.5 percent but The economists magazine say is 36.4 percent.

Before the protests that ended his 30-year-rule, the fiercest unrest to challenge Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak was caused by lack of bread, and was not a direct response to his regime’s policies.

In Tunisia, in 2010, Mohammed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old fruit vendor protested against police abuses by setting himself on fire. His death, and the subsequent uprising which followed, can also be blamed on lack of food and employment.

The importance of food security must be remembered.   Unrest in Egypt and Tunisia stretching globally is a good reminder.