Arab countries' farm gap grows to $155 billion

With the exception of fish and vegetables, Arab countries are suffering from a shortage of all types of farm products, as they are reeling from a cumulative farm gap of more than $155 billion (Dh569.3bn), according to figures by Arab Organisation for Agricultural Development (AOAD), a key Arab League establishment.

The region is the world's single largest food importer despite its massive land potential, showed the figures. Bridging the gap requires the Arab nations to invest more than $100bn in farming projects over the next 20 years in order to meet a steady rise in domestic demand and cut the costly import bill, said Mousa Al Zedjali, Director-General of the Khartoum-based AOAD. Nearly half of those funds must come from the private sector, he added.

The farm gap, which is the difference between imports and exports of food products, peaked at about $23bn in 2008 to bring the cumulative Arab food shortage to about $155.5bn during 2000-2008, the report showed.

The level is more than double the cumulative gap of about $45bn during the preceding nine years, when the region's population did not exceed 240 million in the early 1990s, compared with about 334 million at the end of 2008.

The report showed total Arab food exports stood at only about $10.5bn in 2008, while imports were as high as $33bn, their highest level.

It blamed poor water resources in the region, low land utilisation and investments, and what it described as defective Arab farm policies. "Five years after they approved a 15-year common farm strategy in 2005, the Arab countries have become more reliant on farm imports as such a strategy remains inefficient in the absence of right policies and funds," it said.

"What complicates the problem is that most wealthy Arab nations are generally still reluctant to invest heavily in farming projects in fertile member states for political and security reasons, while only about 12 per cent of the total available arable land in the region is exploited."

Pinched by soaring global food prices through 2008, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf oil producers have announced plans to invest in farming ventures in Sudan and other countries.

The UAE also has plans to build a three-month commodity stockpile within an ongoing strategy to tackle the country's food shortages. Analysts said such projects are highly feasible on grounds that the Gulf countries are heavily dependent on farm imports, given their desert nature.

"There are several obstacles facing the development of the Arab farming sector… they include low investments, defective government policies, poor water resources, inefficient use of available land and water resources, and the low level of utilisation of available cultivated areas," AOAD said.

AOAD's figures showed the gap in most products has worsened over the past years, with that in grain and flour rising from about $8.5bn in 2004 to $9.1bn in 2005 and a record $9.5bn in 2008. The wheat gap widened from $4.4bn in 2004 to $4.6bn in 2005 and about $4.8bn in 2008 while that in corn surged from about $1.5bn to $2.02bn and $2.4bn, respectively.

The gap looks worse when it is taken from the volume perspective, with that in cereal standing at 51.5 million tonnes in 2008. The wheat shortage alone was as high as 24 million tonnes while that in corn stood at 13 million tonnes and in rice at 2,300 tonnes.

Arab food self-sufficiency

(%) 2006 2007 2008

Cereal 54.9 49.0 52.3

Wheat 57.3 47.8 52.0

Corn 38.4 36.0 37.6

Rice 74.1 75.6 75.7

Barley 39.4 29.7 31.9

Potato 100.7 99.2 99.8

Vegetable 101.4 101.8 102.0

Fruit 97.3 96.4 96.4

Sugar 30.6 29.3 30.2

Cooking oil 28.6 37.9 30.3

Meat 85.4 84.0 83.2

Poultry 74.6 74.9 69.1

Dairy 69.8 69.8 69.1

Fish 102.8 104.9 104.2

*Source: AOAD

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