Arab countries need to improve their investment laws to encourage large farming projects to bridge a serious food gap close to $100 billion, the head of the General Union of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture for Arab Countries has said.

Khalid Hanafi warned that Arab nations import at least 55 percent of their food needs from foreign markets and that their import bill topped $61 billion in 2020.

“There are expectations that this bill will exceed $90 billion after 10 years due to the rapid population growth and failure of regional states to tap their arable land,” he told a farm conference in Marrakesh in Morocco on Tuesday.

Hanafi said Arab countries control massive arable areas, estimated at nearly 220 million hectares but that only around a third of them are exploited.

“There is a pressing need for Arab governments to issue new laws to encourage investment in large farming projects to resolve this serious problem,” he said.

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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