Demand for food in the Middle East is expected to rocket by 50 per cent in the next two decades as a result of booming populations, according to an expert.

Global Crop Diversity Trust co-founder and senior adviser Dr Geoffrey Hawtin said that swift action was needed to ensure future generations can feed themselves, in a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

He is now lobbying for efforts to conserve some of the region's traditional crops to ensure long-term supplies.

"We must go back to the basic building blocks of agriculture and work systematically on crop adaptation and nutritional value," he said.

"The region's population is expected to grow by 40 per cent between 2010 and 2030, demand for food is projected to increase by 50 per cent over the next 20 years and prices are rising," he said.

"The ancient Middle East's legacy to the global food supply is enormous.

"Some of the world's most important cereal and legume crops, such as wheat, barley, chickpea and lentils, originated here from their wild ancestors.

"These crops' wild relatives have continued to evolve over millennia to survive in some of the most challenging conditions on the planet.

"If these traits can be transferred to our food crops through breeding programmes, they could help provide us with a continuing, resilient and diverse food supply."

Dr Hawtin is speaking at a seminar on food security and sustainable agriculture in the Gulf at the International Centre for Biosaline Agriculture in Dubai today (November 13)/

He said the Middle East could make a "key contribution" by drawing on its own agricultural heritage.

"Only an urgent, concerted effort by the countries of the region to protect and conserve crop diversity, both in the wild and on farm, will prevent its disappearance," he said.

"To give an indication of the breadth of this diversity, the collection of barley, chickpea, faba bean, forages, lentils and wheat at the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas gene bank in Syria, with which I was heavily involved in the 1970s and 1980s, conserves a staggering 135,000 varieties from over 110 countries.

"The safety and sustainability of this collection is invaluable for the region's food security.

"With less land available for food production, less water, uncertain energy supplies and harsher weather conditions, the Gulf countries, as well as the rest of the world, now need to feed more people than ever before with fewer natural resources to do so."

He emphasised that the Gulf countries' reliance on imported food was risky in light of forecasts of food shortages.

"As Gulf countries import most of their food, they are fundamentally reliant on crop diversity found and used elsewhere in the world," he said.

"In order to secure its food supply, it is critical that the Gulf nations support the safeguarding of the raw materials for the development of tomorrow's climate-ready seeds.

"Currently, billions of dollars are invested to acquire land outside of the region through bilateral agreements - mainly in Africa, but more recently in Europe and the US - in order to have some control over food supply chains and expand farming sectors.

"Saudi Arabia and the UAE combined already hold around 2.8 million hectares of overseas land.

"However, this investment method is risky and only a partial long-term solution, relying as it does on the complexities of international trade regimes and legal systems." - TradeArabia News Service