IFPRI publishes collection of studies on food, agriculture, and pro-poor growth in the Middle East and North Africa

Agricultural production in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is severely constrained by water scarcity. Some of the main reasons are drought, low and irregular rainfall, and the general deterioration of water resources (over pumping of groundwater, salinization, and pollution). But also factors such as growing competition for land and water from other economic sectors, as well as prolonged political conflicts in the region contribute to a stagnating agricultural sector. Combined, these factors have led to a severe fall in the quality of arable land, and sustainable development has become a major concern in most parts of the MENA.

These developments pose a serious problem especially to the low- and middle-income countries in the MENA because the economies in these countries are characterized by a relatively significant agricultural sector (as opposed to high-income countries with economies dominated by petroleum products and natural gas such as Kuwait, Libya, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates). Moreover, while the majority of the population in the MENA live in urban areas, the majority of the poor live in rural areas where agriculture constitutes the most important source of income. In the MENA, as in most developing countries, poverty is disproportionately a rural phenomenon.

A volume entitled Food, Agriculture, and Economic Policy in the Middle East and North Africa recently published by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) brings together a collection of studies on different aspects of food and agriculture in the MENA. Ranging from regional overview to micro studies, the volume analyzes policy issues in a broad number of areas such as drought management, domestic food distribution, agricultural technology, producer and consumer subsidies, and foreign trade.

The studies discuss various paths to less poverty and more food security in the MENA. It is, for instance, argued that the low- and middle-income countries should embark on a strategy that subordinates the role of the agricultural sector to the goal of rapid, pro-poor growth. Core elements in such a strategy should include more labor-intensive and export-oriented sectors, conflict resolution and ecologically friendly farming practices. The goal should not be food self-sufficiency as has often been the case in the region because policymakers have tended to percieve reliance on food imports as a threat to national food security. One of the main points of the studies is that, in a drought-prone region like the MENA, reliance on trade for a large part of the food needed is likely to enhance food security.

To order a copy of the volume Food, Agriculture, and Economic Policy in the Middle East and North Africa, please click here:
http://www.elsevier.com/inca/publications/store/6/6/0/6/6/7

To download a free copy of H. Lofgren's contribution Food Security, Poverty, and Economic Policy in the Middle East and North Africa discussing strategies for pro-poor growth, please click here: http://www.ifpri.org/divs/tmd/dp/papers/tmdp111.pdf

Other relevant reading: the Arab World Competitiveness Report 2002-2003 (reported on by the UN System Network in October 2002):
http://www.rdfs.net/news/news/0210ne/0210ne_WEF_en.htm