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Agriculture

Agriculture news from the Middle East. All the important stories, exclusive interviews, plus authoritative opinion and analysis

A farmer harvests grain in Haymana, near Ankara. Agriculture contributed 9.5% of Turkey's GDP 20 years ago but that was down to 6% in 2023

Turkey gets $100m to support quake-hit agriculture sector

Turkey has secured $100 million from the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank to support its agricultural industry, which was impacted by last year’s earthquakes. The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), a member of the development bank, has provided funding to the Development and Investment Bank of Türkiye (TKYB). The funding, guaranteed by the Ministry of Treasury […]

climate Turkey agriculture

Climate change drying up Turkish agricultural production

Drought conditions across much of Turkey have led to authorities in one prime agricultural region banning new crop plantings. There are rising concerns across local government, academia and the farming industry that climate-driven water shortages are dramatically weakening food security in the country. In late July, agricultural authorities in the Seyhan region of the southern […]

Saudi fishing trawlers

Saudi fishing industry bolstered by support plan

Saudi Arabia’s fishing industry has landed a financial support programme from the government as part of plans to develop and safeguard the sector. Fish production in the kingdom increased 80 percent in 2023 year on year to 214,600 metric tonnes. The goal is to increase that by 7 percent to 230,000 tonnes this year. The […]

Farmers pick strawberries for export on a farm in Morocco's Kenitra province

Balancing the scales of Morocco’s food exports

Free trade access to the EU and UK markets, and a longer – or at least different – growing season mean that Moroccan farmers are producing bumper exports that are helping to reshape the country’s economy around agriculture. However, those exports are drawing criticism from those who believe the country should prioritise its citizens’ own […]

Garden, Nature, Outdoors

Bids open for Saudi ‘coffee city’ in production drive

Saudi Arabia has opened bids for coffee producers to acquire lots in an area of the southwestern Al-Baha region that is intended to be the country’s first “coffee city”. The country aims to become a major coffee producer alongside the likes of Brazil.  The area set aside for coffee bush planting is in the mountainous […]

morocco water

Morocco struggles to solve its water crisis

A seawater desalination plant that opened last month at Sidi Rahal near Casablanca is a major part of Morocco’s plans to tackle the country’s frightening decrease in water supplies. The plant will be built in two phases and is designed to produce 300 million cubic metres of water a year to supply 7.5 million people, […]

Field, Nature, Outdoors In 2023, El Niño arrived early, impacting crops. The Indian government reacted by banning exports of non-basmati white rice

Weather and politics keep pressure on price of rice

The status of rice as a global food staple means that it is also a political minefield for producer nations. So all eyes are on India as rice prices fluctuate at around a 15-year high.  Different varietals and markets command different prices, but trading on “contracts for difference”, which track benchmark prices, saw the cost of […]

Arid conditions brought about by the drought in Morocco are affecting the cost of sheep

Drought pushes up sheep price for Eid in Morocco

The price for a sheep in Morocco for the annual sacrifice at Eid al-Adha has increased on average at 10 times the 2.2 percent rate of inflation. A medium-sized female sheep costs MAD4000 ($400) as opposed to MAD3000 last year. This puts it out of range for many families in the country where a high […]

Countryside, Farm, Field

Oman to build agricultural city to enhance food security

Oman will build an agricultural city as part of its food security initiative, a news report said. Saham Agricultural City will cover an area of 65 sq km, with 70 percent dedicated to agriculture and 30 percent to urban development, Oman Daily Observer reported. The city will use advanced technologies such as hydroponics, aeroponics and […]

A worker at Veggitech, a start-up farm in Sharjah, UAE. Agtech startups are looking beyond VC entities for funding

Agriculture startups failing to cultivate VC interest

Agriculture technology founders in the Gulf are having to resort to alternative sources of funding, as interest from venture capital entities dries up. The region is following a global trend. Startups in so-called “agtech” cumulatively raised $1.2 billion across 161 deals in the first quarter of this year, down almost 26 percent and 20 percent […]

Citrus fruits were Egypt's largest agricultural export, and its orange exports are predicted to reach 2 million tonnes

Citrus produce helps Egypt agricultural exports rise

The value of Egypt’s agricultural exports in the first five months of 2024 rose 24 percent year on year, following greater land allocation for produce such as oranges and potatoes. The minister of agriculture and land reclamation, Mohamed Al Sayed Al Quseir, told reporters on Thursday that more than 4.5 million tonnes of agricultural produce, […]

Firefighters from Istanbul municipality and volunteers plan how to extinguish a wildfire near Ikizce, a village in Turkey

Turkey and World Bank unite to combat wildfires

Turkey has launched a $400 million project with the World Bank to protect the country from wildfires. The Turkey Climate Resilient Forests Project will strengthen the country’s ability to protect people and property from the fires.  Almost 230,000 hectares of Turkey’s forests were damaged or destroyed completely between 2012 and 2021, with more than 61 […]

Photography, Clothing, Glove Qatari origin urea will be supplied to the agricultural sectors of the US and other international markets

Qatar signs 15-year urea supply pact with US company

Qatar, the world’s second-largest exporter of urea, has signed a long-term urea supply agreement with US-based Koch Fertilizer.  The 15-year agreement, starting in July, will lead to the supply of up to 0.74 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of urea, state-backed QatarEnergy said in a statement. Locally manufactured urea will be supplied to the agricultural […]

Saudi arabia water

$4bn set aside for Saudi water projects

Saudi Arabia will spend $4 billion by the end of the decade on recycling over 2 billion cubic metres of water, about 70 percent of the country’s renewable water sources, an official said this week.  Speaking at the World Water Forum in Indonesia, Mohammed bin Zaid Abuhid, head of the General Authority for Irrigation, outlined […]

An orange vendor in Cairo. The country will export 2 million tonnes of oranges this year

Egyptian agricultural exports hit record levels

Egypt exported a record 7.5 million tonnes of agricultural produce last year, compared with 6.4 million tonnes in 2022 and 5.6 million in 2021. The total value of agricultural exports in 2023 was $8.8 billion, according to minister of agriculture and land reclamation Al Sayed Al Quseir. Egypt’s total number of export partners has increased […]

Beekeepers in Mannouba, Tunisia. The country has 305,000 hives

Tunisia’s honey production hit by global warming

Almost three-quarters of beekeepers in Tunisia have seen their honey production curtailed by climate change. The North African country has 305,000 hives tended by 13,000 beekeepers, according to Hassene Ben Salem, chief engineer at the Office of Livestock and Pastures. But he said extreme weather conditions have almost halved honey production, from an average of […]

The Saudi Coffee Company launched a model farm in Jazan in November 2023 and will invest SAR1 billion ($270 million) in the sector over the next decade

PIF unit launches first Saudi coffee producer

Saudi Arabia’s coffee exports are poised for major uplift as a unit of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, received approval to set up the country’s first coffee-production unit. The Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu President Khalid Al-Salem granted the Saudi Coffee Company a license to establish a coffee-production factory […]

Mubadala Brazil Brazilian biofuel

Mubadala to invest $13.5bn in sustainable biofuels in Brazil

Mubadala Capital is to invest $13.5 billion in biofuels in Brazil.  Its chief investment officer and head of Brazil Oscar Fahlgren told the Financial Times that the scheme to produce renewable diesel and aviation kerosene using mainly non-food plant matter is “a very important capital project”.  Mubadala is the second-biggest sovereign wealth fund in Abu […]

Workers stacking hay on a farm in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi. Agriculture contributed AED3.5 billion to the UAE's GDP in 2023

Emirates Development Bank to focus on farmers, says CEO

Emirates Development Bank is prioritising food security this year, its CEO has told AGBI, and has billions of dirhams ready to lend to the UAE’s farmers. Food security is one of the five funding pillars of the state-owned EDB, which provides loans and resources to large corporations, SMEs and startups. The bank has a mandate […]

The Baladna project is intended to produce 1.7 billion litres of milk a year from 270,000 cows

Baladna lines up $3.5bn Algerian dairy venture

Baladna, the largest dairy food producer in Qatar, is exploring plans for a $3.5 billion venture in Algeria that will be based on a herd of more than a quarter of a million dairy cows. The company has signed a framework agreement with the Algerian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to set up what […]