Food Security in the Arab World The Bread Crisis in Some Arab Countries

The issue of Arab food security is very urgent and cannot be postponed, the numbers are alarming, and the Arab countries are moving towards a frightening future in terms of food scarcity and high prices. Since mid-2007, food prices in the Arab countries have been rising at very high rates. How do we face this after the population of the Arab world has become more than 318 million? This requires the development of a comprehensive Arab policy to increase food production in the Arab world, aimed at avoiding the famine that the figures put before us, and achieving self-sufficiency in the production and consumption of cereals, oils, meat and dairy.
The food problem has become at the top of the list of problems and problems suffered by developing countries in general, and Arab countries in particular, and this issue has become prominent in the economic policies of developed and developing countries alike. International and regional bodies --dir--ect a large part of their efforts to examine that problem and to make proposals and solutions to it. Despite this great interest, the real achievements in this at the international level, the situation is quite modest, especially if measured by the magnitude of the problem and its future dimensions. It is useful to warn developing and Arab countries and to identify the magnitude of the risks they face in the field of food security.
The food crisis in the Arab countries is manifested in the general shortage of food products, which leads to the hunger of millions of people, and the spread of the phenomenon of malnutrition and disease. The rate of food consumed per capita in most developing countries remains below the minimum necessary per capita, which, according to estimates by experts from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), is about 2,400 calories per day. 60% of the population of developing countries suffers from obvious and unclear hunger. Millions of people, especially children, are relatively dying of hunger and malnutrition. (The completeness of the nutritional value of foods is determined by the level that best ensures that the organs of the body are --function--ing and allows them to regain their activity and abilities to --function-- without any damage. in health).
The food crisis in the Arab world is evident through the following indicators:
1 Low per capita calorie intake in most Arab countries below the global level. It should be noted that the number of calories that the population gets varies from country to country.
2- The widening gap between the imports and exports of goods and food products in the Arab world and the increasing dependence of Arab countries on imports to secure what they need.
3- The low rate of self-sufficiency and its levels, as a result of the increase in food imports from outside the Arab world. The rate of self-sufficiency varies from State to State.
Patrick Seale says with the emergence of the loaf of bread crisis at the beginning of 2008 (One of the main problems facing the world is also that many countries of the world do not enjoy food security, that is, they are unable to feed their people, and are completely dependent on the imports for which they pay a lot of money. Egypt, for example, imports 50 per cent of the wheat it consumes, and pays for its imports of this essential foodstuff, from its revenues in hard currencies from two sectors. Tourism and the Suez Canal, and its exports of various goods. The global rice crisis has forced Egypt to issue a decision to ban the export of rice for 6 months, starting on April 1, in an attempt to keep domestic rice prices low.
The availability of goods and food products in most of the Arab markets´-or-their lack of availability, and the demand of people to buy them´-or-their inability to buy, does not negate the existence of the food crisis, which is the dependence on imports to provide goods and food products. The seriousness of the food crisis in the Arab world lies in the increasing dependence on imports to secure the population s need for foodstuffs. Especially when the importer cannot judge the prices of imported materials, it may be difficult to provide them at all times, and may be used as a means´-or-tool to pressure the country to take a certain position.
Damascus University – Faculty of Economics

Rate the article
Bad	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Very good
Result : 100%							Participated in the vote : 1