Stagnant Agricultural Holdings
The number of agricultural holdings in Kuwait’s Al-Wafra and Abdali areas exceeds 6,000 farms. However, there is a very important group of agricultural and livestock holding owners: those whose holdings are struggling to produce. These owners face significant problems and challenges. There is no precise statistic on the number of this group, but their approximate number exceeds 600 farms that are struggling to produce.
One of the reasons contributing to the struggles of some agricultural holding owners is the lack of skilled agricultural labor with expertise, as well as the difficulty in obtaining water suitable for irrigation. This is due to the high cost of acquiring water desalination units for farms, with most of the water used being saline and unsuitable for irrigation and for agricultural and livestock production. Additionally, the soil may be unsuitable for cultivation and require development and a long period to be reclaimed and made suitable and capable of agricultural production. Other reasons include the difficulty in obtaining appropriate packaging and labeling services, harvesting services for agricultural products, the high cost of refrigerated transport, and weak marketing channels for selling agricultural products.
There are promising investment opportunities in Kuwait’s agricultural sector, particularly in supporting activities that the sector needs, such as packaging and labeling agricultural products, providing refrigerated transport services for agricultural and livestock products, providing water desalination services for farms, providing irrigation network services, and offering farm management services for plant and animal farms, hydroponic farming, and the use of modern technology. Many farms need supporting services to enable them to produce, market, and sell their agricultural and livestock products in the markets.
The General Authority for Agriculture should develop a mechanism for distributing and granting agricultural holdings in the coming period, granting small, suitable areas to agricultural entrepreneurs. This would encourage and guide entrepreneurs wishing to obtain farms by providing suitable areas ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 square meters, enabling the entrepreneur to engage in agricultural or livestock production in line with their financial capabilities.
Kuwait does not have a genuine internal agricultural or livestock food security. Currently available food security relies on imports at a rate of 90%. To achieve internal food security, it is necessary to support projects for agricultural and livestock products and work on finding appropriate solutions to address the problems of agricultural holding owners who are struggling to produce, and to support them.
Food security is a shared responsibility that requires cooperation between the state, the private sector, and farmers, leading to a more efficient agricultural system. This will ensure sustainable food security for Kuwait and build a robust food shield against crises and wars.
Fawaz Ahmed Al-Hamad
