Agri-tech solutions can address GCC food security challenges: OBG report

Agri-tech solutions can address GCC food security challenges: OBG report

A new Covid-19 Response Report (CRR), produced by Oxford Business Group (OBG) in partnership with the Arab Organisation for Agricultural Development (AOAD), highlights the investment opportunities emerging in agri-tech across the Gulf as GCC countries move collaboratively and individually to find sustainable solutions for their food security challenges.

Titled “Agri-tech & Food Security in the GCC”, the report shines a spotlight on the wide-ranging strategies for agricultural innovation and food production taking shape across the region in an easy-to-navigate and accessible format that includes key data and infographics.

It provides details of the significant food security challenges that the region has long faced, such as water scarcity and a lack of arable soil — which have been exacerbated by climate change.

The report also considers the added impact of disruptions to global supply chains caused by the pandemic and more recent Russian war on Ukraine, which has heightened the need for the region to continue investing in domestic production capacity and agri-tech solutions.

Against this backdrop, the report charts the strides made across the GCC before and during the pandemic to reduce imports by investing in supportive technology solutions, such as water management, with a specific focus on desalination. It notes that such steps