Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Natural conditions have made domestic food production an ongoing challenge for the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC): Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Over the past few decades, these countries have been able to leverage their substantial economic resources to address these challenges, largely through food imports. Given their fiscal strength, the GCC countries' main food security challenge will not likely be due to an increase in the price of food, but rather a natural or man-made disruption that blocks one or more of the countries' access to food imports.

In this report by a team of researchers from the RAND Corporation and emerge85, we characterize the food security status of GCC countries and document the predominant strategies they have taken to increase domestic food production or to facilitate access to food imports. We then consider these strategies in the context of two different scenarios: one with a high likelihood of import disruption, and one with a low likelihood of such disruption.

Building on the information in the report, I will expand upon the solutions discussed in terms of their potential relevance for and application in developing countries. While many of the solutions that work for the GCC countries will not be affordable for developing countries, there are several technologies and strategies that can be adapted to developing-country conditions and may be promising for food security challenges including drought- and saline-tolerant crop varieties and desalination technologies.