Various government agencies appear to be battling to make Kuwait secure in the area of food sufficiency and put at rest this timeless thorny file as soon as possible.
In this regard, the Public Authority for Agriculture Affairs and Fish Resources has put forward a strategic plan for food security extending until 2035 to develop the national agricultural system and achieve sustainable agricultural development and enable the nation to acquire self-sufficiency, reports a local Arabic daily.
The daily has learned the plan, which was referred to the National Assembly, comprises of 4 main objectives — increasing agricultural production in quantity and quality, enabling national production to replace agricultural imports, and creating an investment climate in the agricultural sector.
The plan also call for the establishment of a Supreme Council for Food Security, the development and modernization of available options to strengthen it, and the establishment of gigantic agricultural projects to enhance strategic stocks, provide large financial funds for its management and localizing industrial activities related to agricultural production.
The plan expected an increase in the rates of self-sufficiency of vegetable products at varying rates that may reach about 75% or 100% of some vegetables, and the increase in the percentage of the total vegetables in general will not be less than about 75% of self-sufficiency by 2030.
The plan indicated that there are obstacles that do not help to achieve self-sufficiency in some crops that require a special quality of soil and a lot of water. In the details of the plan, the authority stated the following:
■ increasing agricultural production in quantity and quality so that it can respond to the requirements of food consumption, especially that the latter is steadily increasing due to the increase in the population and the rise in income rates
■ improving the performance and effectiveness of the agricultural sector and raising agricultural productivity through optimal utilization of productive resources and the increased introduction of various agricultural innovations, in order to enhance the competitiveness of Kuwaiti agriculture
■ creating an investment climate in the agricultural sector and working to raise the return on investment in agricultural projects to keep pace with commercial and industrial activities
■ develop agricultural foreign trade and enhance marketing capabilities in the field of agricultural goods and services.
■ Establishing a Higher Council for Food Security to develop an integrated strategy for food security through coordination between the authorities concerned with the issue of food security. Provided that this strategy includes several alternatives and alternative plans that respond to various circumstances and possibilities to ensure the achievement of food security.
■ Develop and update the available options to enhance food security and work to increase the volume of production, enhance the productivity of agricultural crops and vegetables, improve water use efficiency, reduce post-harvest losses, and enhance the use of treated wastewater in irrigation, in order to ensure an increase in local production of agricultural production and improve self-sufficiency levels of Crops and agricultural products.
■ establishing giant and specialized agricultural projects that can produce crops and agricultural products in large quantities with the aim of fresh marketing and agricultural industrialization to enhance the strategic stock
■ Localizing industrial activities related to agricultural production within agricultural areas with the aim of encouraging agricultural industrialization and benefiting from the manufacture of agricultural products of a seasonal nature to raise their marketing efficiency and reduce price fluctuations, while working on developing a method of food manufacturing based on agricultural products such as the manufacture of fresh juices, tomato paste and jams, or Freeze and dry vegetables.
■ creating the appropriate conditions and providing the necessary financial credits to the concerned parties to manage the strategic stock of agricultural and food commodities and providing the required quantities of various commodities while working on their sustainability.
■ Adopting an integrated approach to food security, through public-private partnership, that includes the main elements of the food value chain, including harvesting, transportation, import and export, processing, storage and marketing, to make food available and accessible.
■ Reviewing the methods and means of agricultural support to take into account the reconciliation between the strategic objectives of agriculture in its various fields (long-term goals), as well as the method of managing agricultural support and its controls in terms of specialization and distribution among those entitled to support, as well as taking into account the interests of farmers (short-term goals).
The cooperation of the authorities concerned with food security (the Public Authority for Agriculture, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the Public Authority for Food and Supply, the Kuwait Mills Company, the Kuwait Municipality) to implement programs or projects related to the strategic stock of food, especially for basic commodities, to achieve a balance between local production and market needs.
■ Encouraging private agricultural investment by creating an appropriate and stable investment climate to attract the interests of the private sector for agricultural development activities, while preparing a map for promising agricultural investments.
■ Attracting investments in the field of marketing infrastructure such as roads, warehouses, filling stations, ports and various means of transportation to contribute to raising the production and marketing efficiency of the agricultural product, reducing waste and improving quality specifications.
■ Encouraging the establishment of small, medium and distinguished agricultural projects through cooperation with the National Fund for Small and Medium Enterprises Development.
■ Work to support the credit agencies that finance agricultural projects, such as the agricultural finance portfolio, to provide adequate funding for farmers and educators to develop their projects.
Urgent steps needed to be taken
■ Diversify business partners
■ Develop proactive contingency plans
■ Expansion of vegetable production
■ Expansion of agricultural production
■ Expansion of animal production
■ Expansion of fish farming
■ Encourage the private sector to increase inventory
■ Conservation of ground water
■ Make use of treated water
■ Support for farmers and fishermen