Arab states have suffered from a cumulative farm gap of more than $150 billion over 13 years although they have enough arable land to feed themselves and export to other countries, according to an official report.
The gap, the difference between exports and imports, affected all types of crop and farm animals except in fish, which is produced in surplus in most regional states, said the Khartoum-based Arab Organisation for Agricultural Development and Investment (AOADI), an affiliate of the 21-member Arab League.
In the UAE, there was an improvement in cultivated area and farm output but the country is still heavily reliant on food imports.
From around $560 million in 1990, the UAE agricultural sector's contribution to the gross domestic product surged to nearly $2.58 billion in 2002 while farm exports nearly doubled to $650 million.
While it has achieved self sufficiency in some products, the UAE was also able to turn a gap into a surplus in other products like fish, the production of which topped 120,000 tonnes in 2002. But the gap persisted in other crops because of the country's desert nature and scarce rain.
This has allied with a rapid growth in its population to sharply widen its reliance on food imports, which swelled from around $1.6 billion in 1990 to nearly $3.2 billion in 2002.
As for the whole region, the combined Arab farm gap averaged around $12 billion a year during 1990-2002 while it was expected to have exceeded $13 billion last year because of less rain fall, the intensifying conflict in Sudan and Somalia, lower investment in some members, and the invasion of Iraq. The worst gap has been recorded in cereal, exceeding $six billion every year while sugar, wheat, rice and dairy were also main victims.
The deficit has worsened over the past decade because of flawed farm policies in most member states, internal and regional conflicts, lack of investment and failure of governments to utilise the available arable land.
Officials have repeatedly voiced concern about the agricultural gap and growing Arab reliance on food imports, mainly from the US and other Western countries. Some officials considered such reliance as a risk to their security.
According to AOADI and the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, most Arab nations are suffering from slackening far exports and rapid growth in the population, leading to a steady increase in their imports of food products.
The shortage persisted despite an expansion in the cultivated areas in some Arab countries as a result of reforms aimed at increasing crop. From around 67 million hectares in 1999, the combined Arab cultivated area widened by nearly 4.3 per cent to 70 million hectares in 2002.
But it remained far below the area of the existing arable land of around 197 million hectares, which itself accounts for less than 15 per cent of the total area of the Arab world of around 1,400 million hectares.
In a study on the Arab farming sector, AOADI blamed lack of irrigation water, poor inter-Arab investment and other social, economic and political factors.
"Lack of water needed for the agricultural sector to ensure the food needs of the people constitutes the main challenge facing the farming sector?.this shows the strong relationship between the Arab food security and water security as they have become two sides of one coin," it said.
"This means it is extremely difficult for Arab countries to largely expand their production without tackling the water problem."
Experts said lack of funds to finance farm projects is another major obstacle for the low Arab food output. They cited other factors such as the harsh weather in the Gulf, internal strife in some members and the reluctance of Arab nations to invest in other members because of political differences and security risks.
While they have managed to cut their food import bill, the UAE and other GCC countries are still heavily reliant on imports. Outside the Gulf, such fertile members as Sudan, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq also suffer from a sharp food gap although their farming potential is sufficient to feed the entire region.
"The problem is money. These countries do not have enough funds to finance farm projects while rich members are hesitating in investing there because of political and security risks and defective farm policies," an expert said.
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