Last week’s Nature had a special report titled “Can science feed the world?”

That question is perhaps most relevant to the Middle East, arguably the driest area of the world – and home to one of the fastest growing populations. The 2008 food crisis, which sent prices skyrocketing through the roof, and led to a wave of riots in several countries around the world, was a wake up call for Arab states, especially those in the drier Gulf region. As countries like India reduced their food exports, residents of these countries for the first time realized the reality of going hungry.

This led to a change in policies. Qatar, for example, launched the Qatar National Food Security Programme to push for research and policy to feed the small state’s population. Saudi Arabia has recently been pushing to increase its agricultural production, albeit being mostly covered in desert.

The real challenge, however, remains the limited water resources. Arab states would be well-advised to invest their agricultural research into maximizing crop yield while minimizing water usage. Groundwater resources are already stressed, and the poorest countries, such as Yemen, are in danger of running out of water in the near future. Egypt and Sudan are already suffering water shortage risks due to decreased water flow in the Nile – with a risk of further decrease in the near future.

A commentary published in Nature Middle East a while ago explored the options the Middle East had to achieve food security.

The current track in agriculture in the Middle East region is unsustainable. While it may be a little far-fetched to think that the region may be able to reach full food sustainability through investments in research, it can do wonders to increase production. Newer technologies and agricultural techniques already available can increase yields several folds. Further investments can increase this even further. The fact that all the countries share a very similar challenge in this regard means that there is strong potential to sharing of technology amongst the states, spreading the costs wider.

Not only will the countries be assuring the food security of their fast increasing populations, but they will also be saving up on the most precious resource in the region, water.