Rethinking GCC’s food security

Experts say fish, here for sale at the Abu Dhabi fish market, and chicken are viable alternatives to red meat when considering dietary changes. Sammy Dallal / The National

ABU DHABI // Investment in agricultural technology and training, and changing dietary habits would help to improve food security in the region, experts say.

Ayesha Al Blooshi, director of marine biodiversity at the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi, cautioned against reliance on food imports such as cereals and sweeteners, “all the things we can’t produce”.

“We need to go back to a very natural way of living. Our ancestors used to eat what was available. We were very reliant on fish,” she said.

The authorities responsible for food security in the emirate need to better plan agricultural resources, she said, citing the use of aquaponics.

Aquaponics uses waste produced by farmed fish or other aquatic creatures to supply the nutrients for plants grown hydroponically, which in turn purify the water.

According to the agency, 72 per cent of Abu Dhabi’s water comes from groundwater, 21 per cent from desalination, and 7 per cent from treated wastewater.

Half of the groundwater is used for agriculture, which produces only 13 per cent of the emirate’s food supply.

“What a lack of efficiency,” Ms Al Blooshi said. “We should invest in technologies and training people because there’s such a high turnover here. The solutions are at our fingertips, they just need to be done.”

Meanwhile, dietary habits are in need of change, according to Dr Najib Saab, the secretary general of the Arab forum for environment and development in Lebanon.

Citing Egyptians as an example, he said they should rethink their desire to eat rice every day, and find alternatives that required less water to produce.

“They should shift a few days a week to fish and chicken instead of meat, of which most is imported,” he said.

Indeed, changes in dietary habits have led to food insecurity in some countries.

Dr Nahla Hwalla, dean of the agricultural and food sciences faculty at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, said many countries were lacking in traditional diets, which were more balanced.

Regional cooperation was crucial in bolstering food security through research and increasing the capacity to produce food, she said.

“We have the best strategies for food security in the world, but implementation needs the human element, which is segregated in different disciplines. So we have to put them together,” Dr Hwalla said.

She also noted that Arab nations made up six of the 10 countries with the highest rates of diabetes in the world – with one in four people suffering from the disease.

“This is taxing the government, the health sector and the country’s ability to invest in other places,” Dr Hwalla said.

“We need fiscal policies that will subsidise healthy food and maybe tax unhealthy food, because it’s difficult to change habits, but it’s possible if accompanied by the whole value chain.”