Eighteen months ago, food was the hot topic in the Arab Gulf and the cause of much angst. Soaring prices of staples such as rice and wheat were helping drive inflation to record highs, a phenomenon that threatened to tarnish the benefit of the region’s oil boom. Then, as the global food crisis took hold, exporting countries such as India restricted exports.
These trends sparked a wave of concern in the import-dependent states of the Gulf – just how could the desert nations secure food resources for their growing populations? Their reaction was to look abroad with a rush of announcements about planned farming projects overseas.
