Middle Eastern governments are making food self sufficiency a priority
Food and its availability played a key role in the uprisings that have wracked many Arab countries, says a top Syria-based researcher.
Mahmoud Solh, director general of the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), said in a recent analysis that the combination of food issues and widespread youth unemployment were key ingredients behind political uprisings in Libya, Egypt and Yemen that overthrew dictatorships.
Battles continue to rage in the midst of a Syrian uprising and a government crackdown.
Solh noted that the 2008 increase in commodity prices helped start the process across the region, triggering street riots against dictatorial governments.
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Most Arab countries face serious food insecurity issues.
“Except for Libya, where food insecurity is moderate, the countries that are currently undergoing upheaval have serious to alarming food insecurity situations,” he said.
ICARDA is part of an international research network that is supported by Canada through the Canadian International Development Agency and the International Development Research Centre.
Solh was scheduled to speak in Ottawa at an IDRC event in May, but it was cancelled because he did not receive a Canadian visa in time.
However, during an e-mail ex-change he forwarded the main points he had planned to make.
He said the Middle East and North Africa make up the world’s largest food importing area.
Poverty is rampant, and 70 percent of the poor are involved in agriculture.
The region is also heavily dependent on wheat imports because bread is a key staple of the regional diet. Average wheat consumption per year is 135 kilograms compared to 80 kg in North America.
As a result, the region is highly sensitive to commodity price increases.
“This is the main reason why the sudden increase in food prices in 2008 caused street riots in Egypt, Morocco and Yemen,” Solh wrote.
Added to the increased poverty caused by higher food prices is the presence of educated but unemployed young people.
“Unemployment of a large portion of the young population has been identified as potential fuel for conflicts and is one major reason behind the upheavals that resulted in what has been termed the Arab spring,” he wrote.
Solh cited Cornell University research that concluded food insecurity “both contributes to and is caused by human conflict and is most likely to trigger conflict in situations where other grievances already exist.”
However, he also argued that commodity price increases have had a positive side, spurring governments in the Middle East and North Africa to recognize the connection and to conclude that their politically dangerous food insecurity situation can be addressed by more investment in under-performing local agriculture.
“The global food crisis has had an important and positive impact in the region,” he wrote.
“Governments are now placing investment in agriculture high in their national priorities in an effort to ensure food self sufficiency.”
Solh said ongoing research is helping give area farmers and governments tools for increasing production, including work on reducing production costs, more efficient water use and the diversification and intensification of farm production systems in the face of climate change.
