We have recently read news reports that the government has begun paying out billions of riyals from the public treasury to those who have come to be known as “wheat and barley farmers.” Every time I see such a piece of news, I ask myself: When are we going to stop squandering public money like this?
This waste of public money is taking place at a time when we talk frankly of a water crisis hanging over our heads. We have created a new ministry of water which is headed by an intelligent and highly-competent individual. We are now in possession of plenty of information on the devastating effects of wheat and barley production on our water resources; the production and its expansion has taken place at the expense of rapidly depleting water resources formed over thousands of years.
As if all these warnings against rapidly depleting water supplies were not enough, wheat and barley farmers seem bent on extracting every last drop of remaining water for their own gain. They seem to be amused by doing this — as someone who, after enjoying a cool, refreshing drink, keeps asking for more. There is no way of stopping this relentless squandering of our water resources and preserving what is left except by banning the production of these two crops. Otherwise, we will have to wait for several thousand more years for nature to replenish our water resources. Who among us will live so long that he or she will once again enjoy an abundant supply of water?
Self-reliance in any commodity cannot be achieved by ignoring other priorities. Wheat is now available in the international market at prices far lower than the cost of producing it locally. We can easily buy our requirements from outside sources at a reasonable price without having to waste our precious money and our even more precious water. If we are indeed committed to the theory of self-reliance in food, we would have to cultivate every product we need for our tables, from wheat to rice and fruit.
Why, then, insist on growing wheat and its sister product, barley, at the very time when we need every drop of water that remains under our earth? We have already wasted immeasurable quantities to irrigate these crops. Does the Ministry of Water possess any practical solution for this problem? Will it ever move to put an end to this dangerous misuse of our water resources?
Arab News From the Local Press 23 March 2003
