The war in the Ukraine has dragged on for months, with no end in sight. This has had ripple effects that have reached to the Middle East and beyond. Ukraine and Russia both provide considerable food to the region, and this distribution has been disrupted. Some states in the Middle East have become proactive in dealing with the worsening food crisis and are trying to set themselves up to prevent future problems. The Gulf States (United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia) are trying to ensure a secure food future for themselves and the entire Middle East region.
Food Supply Problems for the Middle East
The recent war in the Ukraine is just the latest in a series of problems that have upset the global food supply network. The COVID-19 pandemic shut down ports and warehouses the world over. Inflation in the United States and elsewhere is also driving up the price of food. The Middle East is particularly vulnerable to rising food prices and low supplies, as most of the nations in the region need to import the majority of their food. The Gulf States have fared better than other nations in the region due to their oil wealth, but they have also recognized that their food supplies are at the mercy of uncontrollable external factors.
The global food crisis of 2007-08, when food prices rose sharply and many poorer nations dealt with unrest relating to their citizens’ inability to procure food for their families, was a wake-up call to the Gulf States. After weathering the worst of the crisis, individual Gulf nations took measures to protect themselves from future problems. Saudi Arabia, for example, invested in foreign processing and distribution outlets. A huge investment in an agricultural project in the Sudan was just one of many efforts by the UAE to increase control of their food supply chain.
The UAE, a world leader in seeking solutions to food scarcity, created a National Food Security Strategy that increases national food production while at the same time overhauling the agricultural sector to conserve precious water resources. The Emirates have embraced new technologies wholeheartedly in their plans, especially in the area of water conservation and combatting desertification.
Additionally, in 2021 the UAE established a Food Tech Valley in the mold of the U.S.’s Silicon Valley, to be a similar font of innovation but in the field of food technologies. Its research and development facilities are designed to attract scientists from all over the world to work on projects that the UAE hopes will triple its food production.
The Key Role of the Gulf States
The vast oil wealth of the Gulf States has, so far, insulated them from the worst of the current food shortages. This is not the case in other, poorer, nations of the Middle East. Rising food costs have triggered massive inflation in Lebanon, which saw an inflation rate of 215% earlier this year. Egypt’s inflation rate has recently hit double digits. This latter development is particularly disturbing. In the wake of the Arab Spring in 2011, internal unrest spread across North Africa and the Middle East and toppled the Egyptian government of Hosni Mubarak. A continued rise in food costs could create a similar situation today.
The Gulf States hold the key to preventing such an occurrence. Their monetary reserves, built from years of lucrative oil exports, are large enough to allow them to aid their less-fortunate neighbors. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE have all recently poured billions of dollars into Egypt. Saudi Arabia also sent Jordan $50 million in April to help that stricken country. This infusion of money is a temporary solution, but will certainly help in the short-term.
The real long-term solution is for the Middle Eastern nations to develop a secure and stable food supply chain. The various initiatives being undertaken in the Gulf States to improve their agricultural production are an excellent start. So, too, is the investment in the nations of sub-Saharan Africa. This region is home to 60% of the world’s arable land, but many of its nations are poor and lack the resources to full exploit their land.
The Gulf States have begun to pump money into the countries of sub-Saharan Africa to enable these countries to increase their food production. Diversifying their food supply chain will prevent the massive disruption that resulted from the Ukraine war and enable the Gulf States to aid their neighbors in times of need, which is to the benefit of all in the Middle East region.