preview

Agricultural Foreign Investments Abroad During The Gulf Arab Countries Essay

Better Essays

population witnessed food shortages causing high cereal prices. The food price spike led to the so-called “Bread Revolutions” resulting in a number of causalities (Nasim, 2012). In this regard, the focus of this article will be limited to agricultural foreign investments abroad. The Gulf Arab countries witnessed a "blowing up food gap" in the year of 1970s due to population growth and higher per capita income in the wake of the oil price bonanza. To understand the Gulf ' Countries’ concern about food security one needs to take a detailed look at its food import dependence and how it has developed historically. This food gap and the import dependence that came with it were regarded as a strategic liability. The Gulf countries are` highly politicized and strategic nature of global food markets. This nourished an outspoken wish for self sufficiency and reduced reliance on imports (David, 1999).
Alan Richard wrote “the Initial plans to develop Sudan as a bread basket for the Gulf fell by the way side and especially Saudi Arabia embarked on an ambitious course of "prudent self-sufficiency", as it put it in its five years plans. In the 1970s it started a massive expansion of subsidized agriculture, especially wheat and livestock production, which relied heavily on non-renewable reserves of water due to its considerable agricultural sector, but it will rapidly catch up once its wheat production has been phased out GCC countries have tried to gain direct access to agricultural

Get Access