Feeding Future Generations

 THE issue of food security is today firmly on the front burner for the Middle East and North Africa and its governments. The MENA region is acutely aware that these steps have to be taken to ensure there is no price shock like the one experienced five years ago. Essentially, the error lay in the food suppliers to the region, restricting exports and thereby forcing this cluster of countries to buy food from the international market at much higher prices.
According to an in-depth report on food security issued by Al Masah Capital, concrete moves are being made to ensure that the lessons of the past have been learnt and the mistakes will not be repeated. "MENA Food Security: Are we doing enough to feed the population?" highlights an important issue for the future generations of this region and offers a compelling reason to make this a major government priority going forward.
"It was a sobering thought and a real eye opener that the rise between March 2007 and March 2008 was an unprecedented 59% with oils and fats showing an incredible mark up of 106% and cereals reaching 83%," said Al Masah Capital chief executive Shailesh Dash.
For these reasons alone, Saudi Arabia made concerted efforts to purchase as much as two million tones of wheat from the US for delivery in two months making sure it could double its grain reserves and keep its prices constant well into 2014.

Food Production
The MENA region is exceptionally sensitive and vulnerable because of the limited arable land (only 3.9%) and the shortage of water. As a result, even in the best of times it is forced to import 50% of its food intake. It is no surprise then that as the population increases so does the food import bill. With an average of 4 million additional people each year needing to be fed, "more" is the only label where food production and delivery are concerned. Marked at $61.4bn in 2008 the demand is projected to rise to $92.4bn by 2020.

 Several countries in the region have embarked on a concerted effort to invest in farmlands abroad, creating strategic food reserves and forming food security policies. Mr Dash believes this forward thinking attitude underscores the concerns for food security and other MENA nations are likely to follow suit so their reserves are adequate insurance against runaway price rises.
 Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Libya and Kuwait spearheaded the initiative and approximately 45 million hectares of farmlands were ‘reserved' in 2009 alone. For instance, the key objectives of the Qatar National Food Security Program (QNFSP), make for an interesting study and could well be the role model for other countries to follow.

Food Technology
 The food security policy has many prisms and government policies that seek the whole picture and wide ranging solutions are the likeliest to manage their buffer stock well. Attention to food technology, seeding methods, hybrid crop turnover, post harvest processing, rapid supply chain systems, better irrigation and a greater awareness of weather patterns combined with quick turnover of crops are all elements in the equation. Also, one of the aspects often ignored are the dietary traits that impact directly on costs. For example, it is more expensive to generate meat produce because of the need for more water than it is to produce grains.

Encouragement to the private sector be it in intermodal transportation, refrigeration, farming, warehousing, storage, research, processing foods and irrigation is essential and a major factor so future policies will have to give the food entrepreneur a much deserved importance in tomorrow's scheme of things.
The range of foodstuffs is vast and their sources complicated and diverse. Wheat, sugarcane, tomatoes, potatoesadidas