Organic Farming in Saudi Arabia

Organic Farming in Saudi Arabia

Environmental and Socio-Economical Prospects and Challenges

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Organic Farming in Saudi Arabia

Environmental and Socio-Economical Prospects and Challenges

The objective of this proposal is to explore in detail the potential development of a full dissertation based on the environmental and socio-economical prospects and challenges in regard to organic farming in Saudi Arabia. One must consider the available land in this nation that is slightly more than one-fifth the size of the United States and has a harsh climate of dry desert and great temperature extremes. The terrain is mostly uninhabited due to the fact that a large portion of it is desert that has frequent sand and dust storms. Small portions of the land is arable, just 1.67% for permanent crops as of statistics from 2005. Special farming techniques will be required to tame this harsh terrain. but, it is possible because as of 2003, the nation saw up to 16,200 square kilometers fully irrigated.

What type of farming could be useful here? What comes to mind and is worth mentioning is the process of organic farming. This technique has been practiced in the majority of the countries of the world. This fact entails that the total cultivated organic land being utilized around the globe in the modern world today is approximately 26 million hectares. There is also a significant total economic output being produced by the world's organic producers. The European Union and the United States are currently the leading markets; however, there are many new or developing nations that have begun to show serious interest in participating in this growing international trend. Organic farming, as opposed to the conventional farming, presents an opportunity for individual and agricultural business entities to increase their overall worth. Saudi Arabia's agric-food imports in 2004 were $1.7 billion higher than in 2003 and the country's top five imports account for 40% of total agricultural imports.

This proposal incorporates a review of existing resource planning options and also attempts to look forward into the possibilities of potential new design and implementation processes pertaining to organic farms. In our ever increasingly competitive, technologically advanced and profit motivated global economy, all factions of the agricultural business community are in a never ending search for new and viable opportunities and solutions that can strategically reduce inherent problems in the farming community. These nations are also trying to control operational costs associated with the farming process and therefore systematically increasing food output, profitability and revenues. Throughout history, agricultural entities have successfully reduced costs and increased yield through the implementation of new machinery, irrigation techniques, and field re-structuring.

Today, however, water and land resources have become indispensible assets that can no longer be cut without creating extremely binding adverse affects on the farms productivity, quality and efficiency. Ground water supplies have been depleted and there are no perennial rivers or permanent water bodies in the area. Water is a give and take thing - the development of extensive seawater desalination facilities provided new options for the nation but coastal pollution from oil spills takes back some of those options. Because of this, the objective for the majority of organic farming organizations or individuals has become a drive to be as efficient as possible. The basic tenet of the environmental and socio-economical prospects in regard to organic farming in Saudi Arabia will be to focus on the design, construction and use of viable organic farm systems that can potentially increase food crop output for all involved.

Literature Review

Organic Farming in Saudi Arabia

Environmental and Socio-Economical Prospects and Challenges

Chapter 1 Introduction

This report is a proposal and foreshadow of what would be the foundation for a full dissertation based on the environmental and socio-economical prospects and challenges in regard to implementing organic farming in Saudi Arabia. As organic farming becomes even more intricate for current and future agricultural business models, there will be an ever increasing amount of pressure on all public and private farming institutions to design and manage their output in an efficient manner. Existing and future organic farms will require all new methodologies that can plausibly handle the plethora of demands placed on them by the ever increasing levels of technological breakthroughs. Consider for example the process of irrigation. Today it is possible to grow completely green golf courses in the middle of a desert setting which then entails the potential to also organically grow food in that same environment.

This type of environmental and socio-economical potential can become the life blood of a nations' food supply and is an excellent example of the need for even more efficient crop, water and land management. There are many new agricultural implementation methodologies available but organic farming is one of the better potential options that could be used in Saudi Arabia. Existing designs of farms are antiquated agricultural business functions. They seem more often than not to be outdated methodologies that produce less than perfect results in regard to food yield output and return on investment. An alternative implementation option, such as the proposed organic farming, is based on more sound and modern methodology and has the potential to become an extremely popular process for future farming operations.

This proposal presents a need for a full dissertation project that provides solutions for the environmental and socio-economical prospects and challenges in regard to organic farming in Saudi Arabia. It is critical to note that organic farming in Saudi Arabia will be a sound option that will offer a vast improvement over existing base farming implementation methodologies. Consider the implications for the Saudi Arabian Date Palm Tree. "With more than 10000 years of age it is one of the oldest trees in the world. Many nations transferred the palm trees from Saudi Arabia (used to be called Arabian Peninsula) to other places in the world after they became amused by its charming beauty and its endless generosity." (PalmWonder, 2009) Organic farming can reinvigorate the production, growth and output processes to create new uses that are up until now unimaginable. Organic farming may never be a one hundred percent optimal solution for all farming system implementation, but conventional implementation methodologies have proven to be even less reliable.

Chapter 2 Statement of the Problem

The primary objective of this research effort is to provide a foundation for a complete dissertation regarding the development of new organic farming methodologies throughout the nation that could provide more comprehensive and healthy food output yields for Saudi Arabia and thus reducing our dependence on foreign food imports. This proposed research is new and differs from any research studies that have been conducted in the past. The potential output from this dissertation matters in this particular field of study because of the vast potential organic farming holds. The proposed organic farming systems and the associated techniques would provide well-defined, well-structured frameworks for guiding project teams and other committee stakeholders through the spectrum of an entire national organic farming process. The process would be built on the basis of organic farming design techniques that would attempt to incorporate the various missing pieces of prior agricultural farming methodologies as well as adding to previously successful efforts.

There is a great procedural challenge in working with such complex issues as these. For example, this dissertation has an objective to use a perspective that can be considered to be broad enough to incorporate all of the necessary elements at the various high levels of integration while at the same time thinking in narrow enough frameworks to sufficiently understand minute elements and details that impact the system as a whole. The dissertation then also has to be able to help provide future users the needed knowledge to improve the system as needed.

Thus, any approach must first be geared to achieve the broad perspective of understanding in regard to the nation's existing agricultural demands by systematically gathering the proper data streams and then thoroughly analyzing that information. In order to achieve the desired and measured results that are relevant to eventually implementing complete and reliable nationwide organic farming systems, there must be close interactions between the research process teams, the farmers, and any other necessary institutions that may be considered to be essential to overall successful outcomes.

Unfortunately, there has been little to no prior research conducted regarding Saudi organic farming principles and potential processes and supporting policies. This dissertation, if approved, will be a reliable first effort that can be considered to be a pioneer in every sense of the imagination. This proposed dissertation both offers and provides opportunities for new results for the Saudi agricultural process in this field and in the overall holistic approach to organic farming. The foundation of a strong need for organic farming in the nation drives positive feelings. Potential outcomes and results will more than likely fill an urgent need for the Saudi Ministry of Agriculture, the governmental structure and the people of this great land.

Chapter 3 Literature Review/Justification

Organic farming as a practice was developed by both experienced farmers and private gardeners in the early 1970's. Through trial and error, these farmers, gardeners and later, newly interested scientists, worked individually and then later as research teams to develop the holistic methods that are being used around the globe today. Conventional farming has and still is the norm for the majority of agricultural production around the world; however, the organic approach continues to make headway. Obviously each of these farming approaches come with their own unique way of doing things, but as science continues to investigate the benefits of each approach, the organic option of doing things is gaining more and more valid support.

For example, Doctor Mae-Wan Ho of the Institute of Science in Society and scientists from the University of Michigan reported that organic agriculture has the capacity to provide enough food to support the entire world's food needs. They ascertained that even with conservative estimates, there would be no need to adopt additional land areas in order to produce enough food to feed the planet as long as farmers switched to organic methods and if those switches created sufficient biologically available nitrogen to replace the use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers currently being used globally. (Wan Ho, et al., 2008) Doctor Wan Ho's findings and other success stories from around the world are legitimate examples of the potential benefits organic farming could provide the nation. They are also excellent grounds for this potential full dissertation study regarding the organic approach to farming and how it could best be effectively utilized in Saudi Arabia. This research would be new and cutting edge and would differ from other proposed studies regarding Organic farming for the Saudi nation and would offer clear, concise and measurable outcomes that are critical for agricultural yield success in this field of study.

Conventional farming has become outdated. "Ecological and sustainable farming systems like organic agriculture systems could be understood as the request of a social movement, which regards itself as alternative to the established mainstream agriculture." (Michelsen et al. 2001). The organic approach would greatly increase the nation's number one export, the Saudi Arabian Palm Date. Saudi Arabia has always been blessed with the unique natural wealth from its Date production. "Dates are an important food for travelers in deserts or in the mountains because they provide them with a complete nutritious meal." (PalmWonder, 2009) the nation's date production constitutes approximately 30% of the entire world's output. and, based on the Saudi Ministry of Agriculture statistics, Saudi Arabia produces approximately one million tons of dates annually of the world's 3.1 million tons output. This dissertation would systematically incorporate aggressive and holistic production and marketing plans that would propose methods of reducing excessive yield waste which is a major problem today. Through organic farming and output distribution, Date production could become even more economical than existing processes while the organic growing methods could make the procedure dramatically more ecologically friendly. New organic production and marketing uses for Dates are just one of the many added benefits from this study.

Consider the many existing uses of the product. "Dates are easy to carry and no cooking is needed to prepare them for eating because dates are often eaten out-of-hand. Dates can also be used for cooking. They can be chopped and used in a range of sweet such as cakes and other dessert dishes and other savory dishes. Dates are also processed into paste and date syrup called 'dibs' which most likely are used in some recipes. Recent innovations include chocolate-covered dates and date juice. Date palm leaves are used for making huts, mats, screens, baskets, brooms, large hats, and fans." (Palmwonders, 2009) Global demand for organically produced fruits and vegetables and their byproducts is being driven by the popularity of organic products in the United States and the European Union. If only 50% of the annual production were to be exported as an organic final product, a conservative price of (6.00 U.S. $ per kilo) would translate into (3 billion U.S. $), and that constitutes 8.4% of today's world organic market value: This equates to roughly the total agri-food imports of Saudi Arabia.

There are many basic indicators of global food security. Indicators such as grain production per person, seafood catch per person, carryover stocks of grain, cropland reserved and the aggregate price of seafood or grain indicate that the world demand for food continues to run far ahead of the available supply. (Brown, 1997) as can be seen in current and projected global population growth charts, the overall world population will potentially grow to be greater than 9 billion people by the year 2050.

Population 2009 11 10

1. China

1,341,808,035

2. India

1,172,615,650

3. USA

308,300,916

4. Indonesia

241,262,099

5. Brazil

199,601,743

World

6,818,718,883

(Geohive)

Population 2050

India

1,807,878,574

China

1,424,161,948

USA

420,080,587

Indonesia

313,020,847

Pakistan

295,224,598

Bangladesh

279,955,405

Ethiopia

278,283,137

Nigeria

264,262,405

Brazil

260,692,493

Congo, DR.

189,310,849

World

9,538,988,263

(Geohive)

"The commercial industrial technologies that are used in agriculture today to feed the world... are not inherently sustainable," Monsanto CEO Robert Shapiro told the Greenpeace Business Conference recently. "They have not worked well to promote either self-sufficiency or food security in developing countries." Feeding the world sustainably "is out of the question with current agricultural practice," Shapiro told the Society of Environmental Journalists in 1995. "Loss of topsoil, of salinity of soil as a result of irrigation, and ultimate reliance on petrochemicals ... are, obviously, not renewable. That clearly isn't sustainable." (Vasilikiotis, 2007).

All nations, including Saudi Arabia, will gradually be forced to create more efficient agricultural solutions to meet the ever growing global demand for food. Global concerns may already be too overwhelming for a nation with its own current population hovering just under 30 million and adding pressures on its 2.14 million square kilometers. The traditional national farming methods have not been able to keep up with the Saudi shortfalls. Overall, Saudi Arabia is the world's 19th largest agric-food importer. "In this new world of scarcity, countries that depend on imports for a large share of grain, mostly for food, are at risk… also at risk are countries such as Algeria, Egypt, Iran and Saudi Arabia, which import one third to two thirds of their grain." (Brown, 1997). The country is a large consumer of bulk commodity imports as well as ingredient inputs for its growing food processing sector. With the exception of animal feed, regional import suppliers are increasingly important players in the Saudi market. The Saudi government has always needed a plan to strengthen the domestic agricultural sector with the aim of obtaining self-sufficiency in agricultural production. There has been success, particularly in dairy production and to some degree in poultry production, but the country is currently nowhere near self sufficient in regard to agricultural production. Currently, food accounts for roughly 15% of Saudi Arabia's total imports. Imports of consumer goods comprise of approximately 40% of total agricultural imports and the Saudi Arabian agric-food imports in 2004 were estimated to be $8 billion, up from $6.3 billion in 2003. The country's top five imports traditionally account for 40% of total agricultural imports. Typically, the top five agricultural imports are comprised of barley, sheep/goats, rice, chicken and cigarettes. Barley alone represents 10% of total agricultural imports.

Organic farming is a major solution to help the nation meet some, if not all, of these daunting demands. "The farms compared had a fresh market tomato production. Tomato yields were shown to be quite similar in organic and conventional farms. (Drinkwater, 1995). The process is a viable and sustainable way of farming that will contribute to the preservation of seeds, reduce chemical needs and better utilize water supplies while stopping scientific manipulation and monopolies. Organic farming is already being practiced in most, if not all, of the countries of the world. The total globally cultivated organic land is approximately 26 million hectares and the existing world organic market has grown to over $28 billion.