"Kuwait's Future"... A Border Strip Transforms Food Security into an Integrated Production System

In a vision launched under the slogan “Kuwait of the Future,” Saudi Al-Hajraf, president of the Feed Traders Union, proposed a national initiative to establish a “Food Security and Self-Sufficiency Border Strip.” The initiative is based on investing suitable areas along Kuwait’s borders with Iraq and Saudi Arabia, creating an integrated system that includes farms, livestock, poultry, and fish projects, feed warehouses, and food production facilities, alongside markets, services, and logistical and recreational infrastructure.

Al-Hajraf emphasized during an interview with “Al-Rai” that “the initiative is not an approved project or a final concept regarding sites and areas, but rather an idea submitted for study by the competent authorities from security, military, environmental, agricultural, and planning perspectives.” He stressed that “determining the sites, nature of uses, and implementation mechanisms must be decided by the state and relevant authorities.”

He clarified that “the concept envisions starting with the border and security system, with uses gradually extending inland. This would include areas for agricultural production, strategic feed and product warehouses, cattle, sheep, poultry, and fish farms, stables, and open grazing areas, while providing roads, water, electricity, veterinary and health services, and emergency, fire, and security facilities.”

Al-Hajraf stated that “the initiative simultaneously aims to address the phenomenon of randomness in the distribution of plots and farms, and to reorganize land use, transforming holdings into genuine productive sites linked to clear activities and conditions and regulations that ensure their utilization, rather than leaving them unproductive.”

He pointed to “the possibility of implementing a system based on companies and electronic monitoring of livestock, where each activity has a clear entity and specific holding, using modern tracking means, and linking the continuation of holdings to the level of production and actual benefit derived from them.” He explained that “the state, according to the proposed concept and as decided by competent authorities, can provide infrastructure and basic services, while investors and company owners would be responsible for establishing and operating production projects, thereby opening the door to new investments in agriculture, livestock, feed, food industries, storage, and marketing.”

He stressed that “the project, if studies show its feasibility, could serve as a new model for organizing agricultural and livestock activities, while maintaining security, environmental, and planning requirements.” He noted that “the ultimate goal is a more organized and productive Kuwait, with open land available to citizens, and a food system capable of facing market fluctuations and supply chain disruptions.”

Al-Hajraf confirmed that “the initiative has been presented to several officials, and he has sensed interest in the idea.” He considered the most important current step to be referring it to competent authorities to conduct a comprehensive study determining its feasibility, implementation potential, and stages.

Al-Hajraf concluded his interview with “Al-Rai” by emphasizing that the initiative stems from the conviction that “however much we give Kuwait, we remain deficient in our duty to it, and that the slogan (Kuwait of the Future) must be transformed into developmental ideas and projects that are studyable and executable.” He expressed his hope that the initiative would receive official attention and that competent authorities would begin studying its various aspects.