Food security committee: All signs indicate food crisis

RIYADH: The food security committee at the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry has stressed the importance of finding an economic commission with independent authority to manage the strategic stockpiling of essential food products. The entity, the committee indicated, should work to achieve an equilibrium between supply and demand, ensure a certain level of food security in the country, limit negative impacts resulting from price fluctuation, and ensure the continuous flow of food products to local markets.
The committee held a periodical meeting last week under the supervision of the head of the food security committee, Saad Al-Khuraief, who is also a board member of the chamber
The committee recommended that the suggested commission be assigned with a number of missions, such as to build storage spaces for essential products, prepare necessary researches and studies regarding the concept of strategic stockpiling, determine the surplus and deficit, and study the international stock market.
In anticipation of a food crisis, Al-Khuraief said the committee reviewed a few international changes that could predict a future food crisis. He said some countries suffered from the increase in the costs of local and international agriculture and food production as well as the decrease in international strategic food stockpiles recently due to aviation and climate conditions in the food-producing countries. Other countries producing strategic agricultural products, the committee pointed out, used those products to produce organic fuel, like corn.
On top of these global variables, the scarcity of water resources and dry desert climate of the Kingdom had resulted in the reduction of cultivated land and a drop in agricultural production in general, while food demand had increased due to the annual population growth by 2.9 percent.
Al-Khuraief said the committee had previously adopted some solutions to face food crises and changes in product prices. “We support agricultural products that do not drain water. At the same time, we try to optimize the use of water through specifying the agricultural products, their need of water, and the ideal ways to water them; finding the best locations in the Kingdom for settling products; and developing new breeds with high qualities,” he said. Al-Khuraief confirmed the need to speed up and activate the agricultural strategy.
The food security committee also recommended the activation of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah’s initiative for agricultural investment abroad.
The periodical meeting also reviewed the continuous work to launch a national observatory for prices of food products, which will take place within the coming weeks.