Journal of Food Processing & Technology

Food security indicators, strategies and policies for the Middle East and North Africa region

3^rd Global Food Security, Food Safety & Sustainability Conference

May 21-22, 2018 | New York, USA

Eihab Fathelrahman

United Arab Emirates University, UAE

Keynote: J Food Process Technol

Abstract:

Due to severe political instability and food insecurity challenges in the Middle East and North Africa, this research addresses food strategies and policies targeting reduction of such instability ramifications in the region. Countries included in this research are Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Israel, Sudan, Turkey, Malta, Djibouti, and Yemen are countries in the region but they are not included in this study due to the presence of a different economic system in some of these countries compared to the other countries in the region or due to lack of information on the country�??s food policy data and information. The countries included in this study share several similar socio-cultural characteristics such as language and religion. However, these countries also have variable levels of access to natural resource endowments such as fertile soil, water resource and seafood stocks. The region includes countries that suffer from severe food insecurity and uncertainty due to either underutilization of existing natural resource endowments, political instability, or high levels of the scarcity of natural resource in the first place. Food policies are widely discussed in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. This study considered a number of food security indicators to cover food availability, access to food, food diversity and quality, food productivity and density, food utilization, and food price stability in the region. These indicators datasets were retrieved from several international databases published by institutions such as the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The most recent indicators were classified into three groups to focus the analysis on food availability, access, and stability. Selected indicators were tabulated by county and analyzed. Strategies such as resource mobilization through foreign direct investment in regional countries agricultural sectors, considering outward-looking food trade strategies and infrastructure rehabilitation was discussed in this research and results indicated that adoption of such strategies addresses the food availability and access to food gaps in the region. The Policies which target support of technological innovation in agriculture, public-private partnership to enhance food import and export capacities, as well as policies that target disasters management (i.e. preparedness awareness and rapid response). Study finding also indicated targeting special in need groups such as low-income households with children, and region recovering from political instability are urgently needed to address the food insecurity in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Biography :

Eihab Fathelrahman is the chair of the Department of Agribusiness and Consumer Sciences, College of Food and Agriculture, United Arab Emirates University (UAEU). He is an Assistant Professor teaching undergraduate and Ph.D. courses in global food supply chain management, food sustainability and health, agricultural and natural resource economics among other courses. Currently, Eihab research focuses on the economics of food security in UAE considering the fisheries sector and precision agriculture for forage production. Before joining UAEU, Fathelrahman worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Colorado State University, University of Northern Colorado, Washington State University and the U.S. Department of Energy Pacific Energy Laboratory, and the National Agricultural Development Company (NADEC) in Riyadh Saudi Arabia. He was actively involved at the World Bank on the economics of climate change adaptations in West Africa initiative and the World Bank for Climate Change Global Track Project. He published over thirty articles and books chapters on applied risk management for agriculture, agricultural sustainability, food trade.

Email:eihab.fathelrahman@uaeu.ac.ae