Last year food was big news as prices soared globally by 54.9 percent and associated riots erupted in 60 countries. In the Arab world alone the shortage in food sufficiency was estimated at $18 billion by the Arab Authority for Agricultural Investment and Development (AAAID). In the Gulf countries, dependent to the tune of $12 billion a year on imports and with agricultural water consumption at unsustainable levels, the issue took on grave importance. State and private investors promptly started eyeing up arable land in Africa and Asia to secure food for a region that is expected to increase import dependency to 60 percent by 2010, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). But while food prices and commodities have reduced in the wake of lower oil prices and the global financial crisis, the issue of food security has not gone away. However, it has yet to be
