FAO unlocks the potential of protected agriculture in GCC Countries
21 October 2018, Muscat, Oman – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) have joined forces to promote the potential expansion of protected agriculture in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.
FAO, ICARDA and ICBA presented their assessment report “Unlocking the potential of Protected Agriculture in the GCC countries: Cutting water consumption while improving nutrition and food security”, in a stakeholder workshop today, under the auspices of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in Oman. The assessment is in pursuit of cutting water consumption and improving nutrition and food security in the GGC countries, a region with the lowest endowment of water resources in the world.
“Protected agriculture in the form of greenhouses is an ideal and realistic system of agricultural production under the conditions of GCC countries, coupling the need of saving water, protecting the environment and supplying the region’s market with fresh, nutritious and healthy food,” said Pasquale Steduto, FAO Regional Programme Coordinator for Near East and North Africa (NENA).
The FAO-ICARDA-ICBA assessment and workshop are expected to attract government and private sector investments, leading to increased food availability that is locally produced with the highest quality and food safety standards, while saving water resources through innovative protected cultivation technologies.
Water Scarcity and Food Security in GCC Countries
“GCC countries share the common obstacles of limited natural fertile land, extreme scarcity of renewable freshwater resources – the most severe in the world – and harsh climate. At the same time, groundwater resources are already over-exploited and a great portion of the freshwater demand is provided in large part by desalinated water and in part by treated wastewater,” added Steduto.
A major shortcoming of this situation is the limited capacity to produce food internally. In fact, food security has long been a great concern in GCC countries given the region’s dependency on food imports, up to 90 % of the demand, leaving them vulnerable to the uncertainties of the global food market.
A consequence of such vulnerability has been experienced during the food crisis of 2007 and 2008, when a global food shortage forced many countries to halt exports and the price of staples in the region surged close to 60%.
In order to reduce the risk of food insecurity, countries have been moving towards increasing domestic agricultural production and investing in agricultural farmlands and protected agriculture.
Protected Agriculture: Greenhouses
Greenhouses can yield up to five times the land productivity and seven times the water productivity of open cultivated lands. They provide food safety and high protection against pests and diseases for high-value crops.
Greenhouse cultivation is also particularly suited to offset the effects of climate change since it is based on controlled climate parameters, including temperature, humidity, light and day length, wind and carbon dioxide concentration.
FAO Water Scarcity Regional Initiative in the Near East and North Africa
FAO’s Water Scarcity Regional Initiative in the Near East and North Africa gives special attention to protected agriculture in the region in order to support countries in coping with one of their prime challenges: pursuing food and water securities for sustainable social and economic development amid an unprecedented severe escalation of water scarcity.