The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) today faces serious problems in regards to meeting the food demands of its population. The population in the region has grown considerably in the last century and is predicted to increase even further in the coming decades. The growing population, combined with the shortage of, and inefficient use of, water and increasing desertification throughout the region, is forcing its nations to look to innovative solutions to feed its people.
Dependence on Food Sources Outside of the Region
The Russia/Ukraine war revealed the unfortunate extent to which the Middle East relies upon extra-regional sources to meet its food needs. The Middle East as a whole imports over half of its caloric needs from nations outside of the region. Any disruption to that supply chain, like the war and the recent worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, put an incredible strain on the well-being of people throughout the Middle East and North Africa. The dependence on out-of-the-region food makes the entire MENA region vulnerable to events completely outside of its control. It is evident that more food needs to be produced locally to prevent severe food shortages in the future.
Yet in the Middle East and North Africa, agriculture is already very important to the entire region’s economics. In Morocco, for example, one-third of employed persons work in the agricultural sector, while in Egypt one-fifth are so employed. This despite the fact that the MENA region suffers from extreme water scarcity and a lack of arable land. This is a major problem, as agriculture uses 85% of the region’s water. Looking at the above statistics it is evident that something must be done to improve agricultural production and make agriculture more water-efficient.
International price fluctuations are another major problem for MENA region nations relying on imported foodstuffs. A sudden rise in the price of wheat, for example, can have a serious effect on the economy of a developing nation. While the richer Gulf States have a certain amount of insulation from price hikes, even they can be affected. A bad harvest season halfway around the world can be a major financial burden to MENA nations.
Innovative Solutions to the Food Problem
Increasing agricultural production in the MENA region requires innovative thinking. The old ways of growing food are simply consuming too much valuable water and not achieving the necessary results. One path towards better results is the extensive use of analytical methods. By using the most modern technological tools, data can be collected and analyzed quickly to determine what is working and what isn’t, allowing scientists to adjust on the fly.
Egypt, which uses 85% of its portion of the Nile River for agriculture, adopted a plan that uses new handheld devices that measure the water levels in the soil and sends the results directly to local farmers’ phones. The farmers can then make informed decisions on how best to use this information to improve their crop yield.
This new brand of “smart farming” is being adopted throughout the region. Tunisia has developed technology that monitors both the soil and irrigation pipes. Similar to Egypt’s system, Tunisia’s smart farming initiative collects data about the soil and also about the irrigation system, letting operators find and repair any leaks quickly to keep the entire system operating at peak efficiency.
Vertical farming techniques
Vertical farming techniques are increasing agricultural output considerably. These systems also recycle water and in Lebanon have decreased water usage by up to 90% per day. New fertilizers are appearing regularly to get the most out of the precious little arable soil available. In the United Arab Emirates, technology is in development that will allow plants to grow in sandy soil, potentially greatly increasing the amount of land available for agriculture.
Not all innovation requires the latest technologies. In Egypt, projects have included the use of old-fashioned greenhouses. The benefits of low-tech solutions like this is that they are able to be produced locally and are very easy to use, enabling farmers to begin reaping their rewards almost immediately. Egypt has also looked at alternative plants, like cassava, that can be substituted for wheat, lessening the need for imports of that staple grain.
The battle to increase domestic crop yields in the MENA nation is being waged with innovative solutions to age-old problems. The revolution in smart farming is making more data available to farmers than ever before. The speed at which this data can be collected and acted upon is almost instantaneous. For a region struggling with food scarcity, innovation is the key to creating and maintaining a reliable local agricultural base.