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With population on the rise, Bahrain could do well to address the issue of food security by bringing all its arable land under cultivation.
The country only produces six per cent of its total food needs and the figure could drop further without better cultivation and farming practices.
Around 11,000 hectares, or 15.5 per cent, of the country is estimated to be arable, but only 4,766 hectares are being cultivated.
The main problems facing the industry are poor cultivation and farming practices, a lack of government subsidies and incentives, small farm holdings and soil salination and drainage problems.
Currently, Bahrain's main agricultural products are dates, seasonal vegetables and crops used for animal feed.
Even at the GCC level, countries need to adopt a sustainable agricultural policy to address growing food security concerns and thus lessen their $12 billion dependency on food imports.
"The justification for a strategic approach to sustainable agriculture in the GCC has never been greater. Population growth, dwindling oil revenues, limited water resources, a lack of arable land and the negative effects of the global credit crunch are all taking their toll," says Goutam Malhotra, exhibition manager of Agra Middle East, a leading regional platform that offers immense opportunities for regional agribusiness professionals, international manufacturers and service providers involved in the agribusiness industry.
Demand is rising throughout the Middle East for many basic goods including rice, wheat and dairy products and the region is now importing 60 per cent of its meat requirements estimated at 1.5 million tonnes per annum and as much as 90 per cent of its overall food requirements.
Saudi Arabia is the largest Arab food importer in the GCC, followed by the UAE and Kuwait.
Most of these countries heavily relied on food imports at a time when global food prices surged 57 per cent between April 2007 and April 2008, according to the United Nations.
Without improving agricultural productivity, the food security situation in the GCC could get worse as the population increases. The total population of GCC members would rise from around 30 million in 2000 to 39 million by 2010 and 58 million by 2030.
To compound the situation Saudi Arabia announced last year that it was abandoning wheat production due to the excessive amounts of precious water required.
Instead, the Saudis are taking the path followed by the UAE by farming land overseas in places such as Sudan and Malaysia.
However this is unlikely to solve the problem long term, especially if the indigenous population ran short of food.
In any case, conventional intensive farming methods in Saudi Arabia have not only contributed to environmental damage, but also resulted in declining rates of agricultural productivity.
Through the over-use of fertilisers and pesticides, over-ploughing and excessive irrigation, agricultural productivity has declined.
Food price inflation is a major strategic challenge for the GCC countries as they have side by side a rapidly growing population and declining agriculture hit by lack of water and arable land.
Only one per cent of land in the UAE is arable, while in Saudi Arabia portion of arable land stands at about three per cent. By comparison, 18 per cent of the land in the US is arable while the UK stands at 24 per cent.
Besides administrative measures like price controls, increased subsidies and build up of strategic food reserves, the GCC countries see agricultural investments overseas to counter threats to their long-term food security.
The countries chosen for the investments are the ones that are geographically close and political and cultural ties exist like Sudan, Pakistan and Kazakhstan.
For investors, this international land grab by the GCC could provide secondary investment opportunities in industries such as fertiliser, farm equipment and shipping, experts say.
Investors now enjoy a new horizon of agricultural business opportunities.
Countries that were once too poor to bring state-of-the-art farming into their countries are suddenly receiving a cash infusion to buy new equipment and supplies.
However, it won't be long before it becomes harder to secure farmlands in Africa, India, the Middle East and even Eastern Europe. The GCC is already engaged in bidding wars with China and private hedge funds.
To leverage its natural resources, the GCC states could find themselves trading oil for food.
