The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries rely majorly on imports to meet their food requirements. This is because food security has always been a major issue in the MENA region,  due to water scarcity, adverse climate conditions, and unavailability of arable land – all of which is necessary for the cultivation of good quality agriproducts. Due to the unfavourable conditions and inadequate resources, the issue of food insecurity persists in MENA for a long time and is highly responsible for MENA’s massive dependence on food imports. Fortunately, agritech in MENA is emerging as a viable solution to this problem.

Today, half of MENA’s food is imported. This is a huge number. Taking adequate measures to reduce this dependence on imports for foods is the need of the hour for MENA countries. This is where Agritech comes into play. It is mitigating food production challenges in the region by enabling the practice of more climate-smart and sustainable agriculture practices. Along with farming processes, it is also improving the storage and transport activities to bolster MENA’s food security efforts. Hence, agritech in MENA is playing a crucial role in decreasing the food import dependency of MENA countries.

Reasons Why MENA Relies on Food Imports

• Water Scarcity

Agriculture in MENA largely depends on rainfall. However, it receives very little rainfall; this affects the agricultural activities and their outcomes in this region. The lack of water resources makes crop cultivation extremely challenging for food producers in the MENA region. In addition to that, the continuously expanding population of MENA countries is leading to a huge increase in the food demand of this region. As a result, these countries have to rely majorly on imports to meet their food needs.

• Arable Land Unavailability

The land suitable and available for agriculture in the MENA countries is extremely limited. With the rise in food demand though, more and more of this limited arable land is getting acquired. As a result, food producers and enterprises in the MENA countries are finding it difficult to set up new farms and cultivate more agriproducts. Hence, to satisfy the growing demand for food, MENA countries are importing food in large quantities.

• Lack of Advanced Technologies

Agritech in MENA is still in its infancy. This means the existing agribusinesses in MENA countries are yet to make the most of agritech advancements and are still stuck in carrying out tedious activities. Hence, they are not able to produce at their full capacity and are forced to import agriproducts from other parts of the world to meet their food demand. To reduce this dependence, it is imperative for agribusinesses to adopt advanced technological practices.

How Can Food Import Dependency be Reduced?

• Shifting to Indoor Farming

A great way to tackle the challenges of arable land unavailability in MENA is to shift to indoor farming techniques that don’t require soil. This soil-less agriculture method, also known as hydroponics or vertical farming, uses about 90% less water which reduces the concern of water scarcity in the MENA region. Adopting this method of production will empower MENA countries to strengthen food security and eliminate the need for importing to satisfy food demands.

• Enhancing Food Storage Practices

Storage facilities play a key role in ensuring the quality and safety of agriproducts, especially perishable foods. Without proper temperature conditions, perishable agriproducts can deteriorate at a much faster rate. Agritech in MENA can not just be instrumental in improving crop cultivation processes, but it can also be beneficial in ensuring adequate storage conditions for agriproducts. With tech-driven storage units or warehouses, temperature can be controlled accurately and agriproducts can be kept fresh for longer periods of time.

• Tracking the Entire Logistics Process

It all circles back to the logistics; keeping track and constantly refining the transportation activities can be the first step towards ensuring that the quality of agriproducts is maintained throughout the supply chain. Tracking the food transport activities can be beneficial in optimising and controlling every aspect of the logistics process. Traceability can help the food producers in MENA to enhance their transportation practices in such a way that their agriproducts stay safe and have a longer shelf life.

How Does Agritech Help in Achieving this Goal?

• IoT and Analytics Stepping Up Production Practices

Agritech in MENA can play a pivotal role in transforming the production potential of agribusinesses. The use of sensors, drones, and agribots can be extremely useful in carrying out precision agriculture, which significantly enhances the quality of agriproducts.

Similarly, farm analytics can help agribusinesses to evaluate and keep on streamlining their processes for better efficiency. IoT and analytics not only aid in crop cultivation but also help speed up mundane agricultural tasks. This can help agribusinesses in producing crops faster and of higher quality standards, thus reducing the food import dependency.

• Automated Controls and Remote Monitoring for Hydroponics/ Vertical Farming

With the help of an advanced, tech-driven farm management system, agribusinesses can grow leaf lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and many other crops hydroponically. Through smart tech solutions, hydroponic growers can remotely monitor and manage the end-to-end operations of these indoor farms.

Moreover, these producers can also integrate automated controls to ensure that a suitable environment is always maintained inside the greenhouse or indoor farm for optimal growth of the crops. This way, agritech in MENA can improve hydroponics and vertical farming practices by a great margin and assist in producing top-quality crops without any hassles. This would contribute immensely to reducing MENA’s dependency on food imports.

• Temperature-Controlled Warehouse for Perishable Foods

For food to remain safe for longer periods, it is important to store it someplace where the temperature does not affect the food’s quality.  Temperature-controlled warehouses can be the vital ingredient in propelling the value and impact of food safety practices in MENA countries. With new innovations and advancements, agritech can also streamline several other warehouse operations.

The use of sensors can be useful in capturing the real-time temperature data of the warehouse. Further, through a remote controlling system, the temperature inside the warehouse can be easily managed and maintained based on the specific requirement of the crop being stored. Agritech in MENA can thus be useful in safeguarding the quality of perishable foods and mitigating the need to import food from other countries.

• Blockchain-based Traceability to Refine Food Transport Cycles

Food safety concerns are rising rapidly with ever-increasing cases of foodborne illnesses. Blockchain-based traceability can assist you in tracking the harvest to shelf journey of your finished agriproducts. This will not only help in winning customer confidence but will also identify flaws in the transport process to easily detect erroneous processes or faulty batches.

With great visibility across the food supply chain through QR codes and stickers, agribusinesses can gain better insights into their food transport cycles. This can help them modify their processes to prolong the shelf life of agriproducts. Similarly, blockchain-enabled provenance and batch-wise traceability can also be beneficial in ensuring that only safe products make it to the market. In this manner, agritech in MENA can strengthen food security efforts and significantly decrease the dependency on food imports.

Agritech in MENA can introduce various innovative solutions to improve food production and mitigate food insecurity concerns in the region. Are you looking for a farm management software to generate top-grade and profitable outcomes for your agribusiness? FarmERP can help you. Get in touch with us to know how our all-in-one agritech platform can help MENA-based agribusinesses with their end-to-end farm management operations.