Food Security in the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council States

Abstract

This article presents food security issues of the Gulf Cooperation Council States in light of the natural limits imposed by land and water resources scarcity. Food security is further worsened by briskly growing demands due to rapid population growthpopulation growth, unsustainable consumption and wastage, land degradationland degradation and climate change. The Arabian Gulf state's population growth is indeed considered as one of the fastest in the world. Furthermore, according to some estimates, close to half of the total land area in the region is highly degraded. This research reviews risks, both natural and human-centered, associated with a complete reliance on food imports as motivating factor to refocus on domestic food production. Unlike traditional way of narrowly focusing on one aspect of meeting food security at a time, the article proposes new way of thinking to ameliorate food security situation and highlights a mix of untapped opportunities to relieve food security concerns. Food, energyenergy, and water are plagued with wasteful practices so that food wastage at the household level is greater than cereal produced locally. Consequently, promoting conservation practices could induce significant amount of food resources saved. Lack of agricultural research incentives is a major constraint to enhance domestic food production.