More than one trillion dollars worth of food wasted by Middle East each year

The Middle East is the region with the largest deficit between food production and the needs of the population, agricultural scientists have warned.

ABU DHABI // Countries in the Middle East waste 1.3 billion tonnes of food worth more than a trillion dollars every year, consumers are warned.

A quarter of this waste can cover the needs of poor people as populations boom and arable land becomes scarce, the Gulf Forum to Enhance Food Security conference in Abu Dhabi heard.

“Food is one of the aspects of national security in all countries,” said Rashid bin Mohammed Al Sharighi, director general of the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority.

Dr Chedli Al Arabi, adviser in the agro-industry, said: “Wastage accounts for about 50 per cent of agricultural crops. The Food and Agriculture Organisation found there was wastage from harvest to consumption.”

The GCC’s population of more than 49 million is growing at a rate of 3.9 per cent a year, with agriculture contributing only 1.4 per cent to the Gulf’s total GDP.

“Agricultural imports account for 84 per cent, with only 16 per cent of exports. We have made projections about the productivity for each sector in the GCC and the region would have to invest US$48 billion to cover the food value gap,” said Al Arabi Hamdi, adviser to the Arab Authority for Agricultural Investment and Development.

It would also need three million hectares of arable land to cover the gap in cereals, sugar, oils and feed as well as 300,000 more cows, 400,000 goats and 800,000 poultry.

“We projected available areas in Arab countries that could be used by the GCC to cover this gap,” Mr Hamdi said. “They include Sudan, Mauritania, Morocco and Algeria, and we have seen that there are arable areas that are not used but can be used to bridge the gap for the GCC.”

The authority recommended the creation of a regional think tank incorporating its experts, the Gulf Chamber of Commerce and the GCC’s secretary general.

“The focus of the body will be to take steps towards reducing the huge food gap in Arab countries and we call upon the private sector to bridge this in the GCC,” Mr Hamdi said.