The Arab Food Security 2023 Conference and Exhibition “Food Industries and their Role in Achieving Arab Food Security,” which was held over the course of two days on October 2-3, opened under the patronage of the King of Morocco, Mohammed bin Hassan VI, in the city of Marrakesh - the Kingdom of Morocco. In the presence of the delegate President to the Prime Minister in charge of relations with Parliament and the official spokesman for the government, Mr. Mustafa Paytas, the Minister of Industry and Trade, Riad Mazour, the President of the Union of Arab Chambers, Samir Abdallah Nass, and the President of the University of Moroccan Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Services, Hussein Alioui, in addition to delegations from 13 Arab and foreign countries.
The President of the Union of Arab Chambers, President of the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Samir Abdullah Nass, said during his speech at the opening of the conference’s proceedings that “despite the disaster that struck Morocco in general and the city of Marrakesh in particular, we cannot ignore or overlook the reality of the development and economic renaissance witnessed by the Kingdom of Morocco, and the great progress it has achieved in the agricultural fields, especially food ones, as the Kingdom of Morocco is distinguished by important components in agriculture, livestock, fisheries, and food processing thanks to its fertile agricultural soil, its advanced industrial base, its strategic location, and its advanced transportation network, which qualifies it to play an important role in diversifying production and marketing, in addition to its importance, as an essential logistical hub for manufacturing and export at the Arab and foreign levels.”
He said: “Our conference today comes in light of the crucial challenges facing our Arab countries, in addition to the food security challenges that the entire world and the Arab world are facing due to the effects of the Corona pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and climate change, which has led to a deterioration in global food security levels. The latest statistics indicate that there are 868 million people who do not have enough food, while 25 countries around the world are considered to be in deteriorating and extremely dangerous conditions. While the population of developing countries is considered to suffer the most from high food prices, especially in Africa and the Arab world, where a large portion of income is spent on food.”
He considered that “climate changes in the world warn that the Middle East and North Africa region is exposed to major changes in rainfall rates, which has led to a scarcity of available water resources, and this matter has an impact on the agricultural sector and food production, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). In the face of this reality, Arab countries must quickly address the seriousness of the crisis and the importance of achieving food security in its various dimensions and components, by developing plans and strategies in the short and long term. In the near term, Arab countries must diversify sources of obtaining goods and foodstuffs, rationalize consumption, and provide strategic stocks for times of crisis. In the long term, Arab countries must re-support investment in the agricultural production sector and provide support to scientific research in this sector. The leaders of Arab countries are also required to rearrange the papers and consider current and future policies to include the concept of food security in security strategies as one of the components of national security that is no less important than all the components of national security, whether security, military, or economic. In addition, Arab countries must support scientific research in the field of food production, and prepare future studies to keep pace with scientific development to enhance the role of technology in achieving food security by enhancing the reality of smart agriculture, and training human cadres working in the field of agriculture and food production to use the latest methods and mechanisms in the production process".
For his part, the Secretary General of the Union of Arab Chambers, Dr. Khaled Hanafi, who delivered the conference message, called for “the establishment of an Arab commodity stock exchange and the establishment of an Arab crisis fund to help face the burdens resulting from these crises, with the necessity of establishing an Arab food program to help victims of disasters and emergency food crises, especially In the most affected Arab countries. As well as strengthening food security networks and needs for basic food commodities. In addition to creating an Arab platform for requests and offers for agricultural products.”
Dr. Khaled Hanafi spoke about the great challenges facing our Arab world regarding the issue of food security, “hunger has increased by 90 percent, and there are 141 million people who suffer from moderate or severe food shortages, representing almost a third of the population of the Arab region. While the Arab countries import 55 percent of their basic food needs, with a bill amounting to about 61 billion dollars in 2020, there are statistics that indicate that the food import bill in the region is expected to reach 90 billion dollars by the next 10 years.”
He continued: “The Arab countries are living in this difficult reality, even though the area of their arable land is estimated at about 220 million hectares, of which only a third is exploited. Although the Arab world accounts for about 25 percent of global grain production, it produces only 2.5 percent. In addition to all of this, the estimated agricultural area in the Arab world does not exceed 30.5 percent, which is equivalent to the total area of countries, most of which are classified among the 15 largest wheat exporting countries in the world, such as Ukraine and Romania. The average Arab agricultural production represents only about 4 percent of global production.”
He believed that “desertification in the Arab region is no longer just a passing environmental phenomenon, but rather has become a danger that threatens to engulf entire Arab countries, where about 35.7 million hectares of Arab agricultural land, equivalent to 18 percent of the total arable area, are under the influence of desertification. Especially in the areas bordering Sub-Saharan Africa. The reality that the region is experiencing confirms that 68.4 percent of its lands are desertified, and 20 percent of them are threatened by desertification, while non-desertified lands do not exceed 11.6 percent of their total area.” He believed that "there is a need to develop and strengthen intra-Arab trade in agricultural commodities to reduce imports from abroad, and to enhance cooperation between Arab food exporting countries while developing innovative mechanisms to provide a simplified model for Arab integrative action in the field of Arab food security."
He stressed that “legislation in the agricultural field should be developed to ensure the provision of inputs and the acquisition of modern technologies and to provide the necessary facilities to pump more Arab investments into agricultural projects that aim to achieve food security. In order to benefit from the advantages of the Arab Free Trade Area to establish joint agricultural projects that aim to export food goods among the Arab countries.”
He said: “The agricultural investment climate in Arab countries must be improved by encouraging the private and public sectors to invest in it, with the importance of adopting a set of trade policies to work on promoting intra-Arab trade in food commodities. Simplifying procedures for importing food, whether at the level of easing administrative and customs restrictions, facilitating bank transfers, monitoring markets, and setting a price ceiling for major food commodities to protect vulnerable classes and ensure that food reaches them.”
He considered that “there is a need to adopt special programs to support the agricultural sector, especially small producers, and other indicative programs to confront food waste, as well as developing Arab agricultural production and shifting to modern instead of traditional by introducing modern technical means, especially smart agriculture. With the need to pay attention to scientific and technical studies and research in various fields, especially the agricultural sector, while benefiting from the outputs of scientific research and studies to improve, provide and increase the production of basic agricultural products.”
The Secretary-General of the Union urged governments in Arab countries to implement infrastructure projects that serve the agricultural sector, with the importance of Arab countries cooperating in establishing a system for electronic knowledge exchange and agricultural innovations with the aim of facilitating cooperation and dealing with such crises and developing the performance of the agricultural sector.
For his part, the Minister Delegate in charge of relations with Parliament and the official spokesman for the government, Mustafa Paytas, affirmed that “the Kingdom of Morocco pays special attention to the agricultural sector and its central role in achieving food security.” Pointing out that “this interest comes from the proactive vision of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, given the central role this sector plays in achieving food security, establishing social stability, and consolidating national sovereignty.” Stressing that "providing food is one of the basic concerns on which every development model that seeks to actually respond to the requirements of citizens must be built, pointing in this regard to “the Kingdom’s adoption of the Green Morocco Plan and the Green Generation Plan as ambitious agricultural strategies and successful mechanisms for sustainable social, economic and human development.”
Minister Paytas stressed that “any agricultural policy aimed at achieving food abundance and food security remains dependent on the existence of an environment that encourages investment in the agricultural sector, recalling in this context the new investment charter that aims to encourage and develop investment and direct it towards priority activity sectors.” Considering that “investments related to achieving energy, food, water, and health security are at the heart of this charter, as this type of investment constitutes one of the goals targeted by the strategic support system, which is considered one of the pillars of the investment support box.” Pointing out that "the value of security and food sovereignty emerged clearly during the global circumstance that accompanied the Corona pandemic," and climate change and current global tensions, as it has become clear that providing food is not just an economic activity that produces added value or an engine for human development, but rather an integral part of national sovereignty.”
The Moroccan Minister of Trade and Industry, Riad Mazour, called for “the necessity of creating trade integration between Arab countries, as Arab trade integration requires institutional aspects, most notably the creation of convergence at the level of standards.” Pointing out that “it is necessary to work together to control prices and explore ways of joint investment and cooperation to achieve the necessary flexibility at the level of distribution chains in the region, as well as to strengthen innovation and scientific research.” Stressing "the importance of the convergence of distribution chains and cooperation in industry and transformation," he called for "working together to come up with concrete conclusions and proposals related to areas of cooperation to enhance food security and sovereignty in the Arab world."
The President of the University of Moroccan Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Services, Hussein Alioui, stressed that “food security is considered one of the greatest challenges facing the Arab world.” Pointing out that "despite the availability of all the factors that allow Arab countries to achieve self-sufficiency and food security, both natural and human, they still suffer from a shortage in food production."
Alioui added, “Achieving food security necessarily requires developing agriculture and upgrading the agricultural sector and food industries.” Pointing out that “the Kingdom of Morocco attaches great importance to the food industry sector, as it is one of the most important sectors of national industries and a fundamental pillar of the national economy. It employs more than 150,000 people, representing 25 percent of the number of workers in the industrial field, and represents 15 percent of the export turnover in the industrial field.”
He explained, “The food industry sector in the Kingdom has recorded remarkable development within the framework of the contractual program 2017-2021, as the government is working through the Green Generation Plan 2020-2030 to restructure and strengthen the sector. Which led to the emergence of new specializations with high added value, which enabled the sector to play a vital role in the rapid response to confront the “Covid-19” pandemic by contributing to ensuring food security in various parts of the Kingdom.”
He concluded, “Despite the development witnessed by the food industry sector in Morocco in recent years, the sector still faces several challenges and challenges, the most prominent of which is strengthening the Kingdom’s industrial sovereignty, and strengthening the contribution to improving the level of food security, which is considered one of the most prominent directives of His Majesty King Mohammed VI in this field.”
For his part, the Honorary Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Arab International Center for Entrepreneurship and Investment of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, Sheikh Ibrahim bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, explained: “The Arab region faces multiple structural challenges related to food security and nutrition, the most important of which are: limited land and water resources, which makes it highly dependent on importing basic commodities internationally at a rate of up to fifty percent of its food needs. This dependence on imports has made the region vulnerable to shocks, the most important of which is the COVID-19 pandemic and the crisis in Ukraine, which led to the sudden interruption of supply chains and supplies. In addition, 52 percent of the total population in the Arab region are unable to afford the cost of following a healthy diet, which indicates that the region is not on the right track to achieve the second sustainable development goal of eliminating hunger, so work must be done on four Essential axes.”
He called for "investing in sustainable and smart agriculture and benefiting from technological progress in the fields of artificial intelligence and drones. In addition to adopting modern mechanisms in water management and improving farmers’ capabilities on how to confront desertification. As well as to working hard to achieve economic and agricultural integration with the African continent. It is also necessary to create Arab investment funds to finance innovations in the agricultural field and to finance farmer entrepreneurs, especially for projects with high added value.”
Source (Union of Arab Chambers)
