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With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing hardships it continues to inflict worldwide, food supplies have been disrupted throughout the entire globe.
Major steps will need to be taken by governments in order to generate sustainable results in the long run, including assisting local farmers in increasing their productivity, reinforcement of supply chains, facilitating imports, and the creation of a public entity for handling food security.
Overall and according to the Global Food Security Index based on which criteria such as availability, affordability and quality of food supplies are taken into consideration, GCC countries are considered among the more secure when compared with other nations. As a region however, it remains dependent on imports, due to the lack of control it has on its food sources. Specifically, about 85% of the food supplies of GCC Countries are imported (rice imports comprising all consumption, with vegetables and meat comprising approximately 56% and 62%, respectively).
Since a pandemic has the negative effect of disrupting a supply chain, countries which are import reliant, become vulnerable to shortages.
In order to minimize such disruptions, immediate measures for intervention have been launched by GCC governments including providing financial exemptions, credits to farmers and agri-businesses, in addition to mobility exemptions for agricultural workers during lockdown periods, among others. The specified steps taken have been successful in preserving food security in the short run.
The specified intervention measures taken by GCC governments, need to be complemented with sustainable ones aimed at protecting food imports against future shocks, as well as restructuring food supply chains.
First of all, the local food supply needs to be increased through implementing leading agricultural practices applied in other parts of the world, and which are designed to increase farmer productivity as much as possible. Examples of such practices include genetically modified crops, desert agriculture, seawater farming, growing crops in vertical stacks and precision agriculture whereby data and technology are used to increase yields.
Also, reinforcing supply chains throughout the region can make food supplies become handy, thus preparing the region for future possible disruptions. In this regard, GCC governments can help both producers and consumers transition to e-markets. Through gathering information, these digital tools make it available to all participants, thus helping manage supply chain risks, identifying weaknesses in the value- chain, in addition to minimizing food waste.
Despite requiring less labor, switching to online platforms will boost productivity and serve as a backup against future shocks.
Further, governments can make significant progress in countries which do not have a mature private sector in the food industry, through creating a government run company tasked with providing stable supplies of key commodities until the private sector can take over.
Although the interventions taken by GCC governments for stabilizing food supplies were critical in overcoming the disruptions caused as a result of COVID-19, they are only a first step. Measures which need to be implemented in the long term by these governments include building up local food supplies, reinforcing supply chains and increasing import flow by using a transitional entity to guarantee stable supplies until the private sector can fully take over.
Governments can ensure their preparation by taking the correct necessary steps today – especially with future disruptions in the supply of food being almost guaranteed.
