Learn more about food security in the Middle East and Northern Africa region in an Economist Intelligence Unit summary drawn from the 2013 Global Food Security Index http://foodsecurityindex.eiu.com.

1. © Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2013
Global Food Security Index 2013
Regional Focus: Middle East and North Africa
Overview
TheEconomistIntelligenceUnit(EIU)cre-
atedtheGlobalFoodSecurityIndex(GFSI)
in2012todeepenthedialogueonfoodin-
securityandmeasurethestrengths,chal-
lengesandrisksthatfoodsystemsfacein
aconsistent,rigorousframework
Sponsored by DuPont, the index
assesses food security across three in-
ternationally designated dimensions1
:
affordability, availability and utilisa-
tion—the last modified to assess food
quality and safety. The index builds
on existing food security research and
frameworks, including the annual State
of Food Insecurity in the World report of
the Food and Agriculture Organisation
(FAO) and the Global Hunger Index of
the International Food Policy Research
Institute(IFPRI),amongothers.
Food security is complex and its driv-
ers are interdependent, such that suffi-
ciency of food alone, in any given coun-
try,doesnotguaranteeanendtohunger
or other issues. Internal and external
factors can alter the availability, afford-
ability and quality and safety of food in
varying degrees. The GFSI applies a com-
parative framework to national food sys-
temstobetterunderstandtheunderlying
drivers of food security. The countries of
the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
region face unique food security chal-
lenges posed by geography and demo-
graphics. Rising GDP per capita in many
countries in the region has, for example,
altered consumption patterns—with im-
pactseeninchangingtradepatternsand
health outcomes. This summary explores
theregionalscoresandkeyfindingsfrom
theJuly2013releaseofthestudy.
1 Rome Declaration on World Food Security, FAO
CorporateDocumentRepository,Rome,November
1996; Foodsecurity, World Health Organisation
(WHO).
Key regional findings
l Food security varies significantly
within the MENA region. Israel,
ranked 17th globally, is the most se-
curecountryintheregionfollowedby
SaudiArabia,ranked31stglobally.
l Political conflict reduced food secu-
rity in Yemen and Syria during the
past year. These two countries re-
corded some of the biggest declines
intheindex,eachdropping7places.
Violent conflict not only reduced
political stability but also hurt GDP
growth, road infrastructure and ac-
cesstopotablewater,andcurbedthe
ability of formal grocery sectors to
providefood.
l The region has the highest agricul-
turalimporttariffsintheworld,scor-
ingbelowallotherregions.Egypthas
the highest tariff rates in the region.
Syria, Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco
all applied tariff rates on agricultural
products that were on average over
20%.
l Given the region’s strong institutions
andinfrastructure,thepotentialgains
from agricultural R&D are large. The
region has world-class crop storage
facilities along with excellent port in-
frastructure. Governments have not,
however, investment in agricultural
R&Dsignificantlyandtheregionranks
poorlyonthisindicator.
Regional summary
Uneventerrain
Noregionintheworldfacesamorefood
disparate environment than MENA. Is-
rael, on the one hand, ranks 17th in the
overall ranking, and first in the indica-
tor for quality and safety of food. Israeli
citizens have better access to water,
qualityprotein,andothervitaminsthan
any other country in the world. Yemen,
on the other hand, ranks 93rd in the
overall ranking, ahead of only Haiti and
severalcountriesinSub-SaharanAfrica.
In 2012, an alarming 45% of Yemenis
did not have access to portable water.
ConsideringtheMENAregionasawhole,
only Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia
rankedlower.
The level of food security varies
significantly in the region, but despite
these differences, some regional trends
emerge. The region has many of the
highest agricultural tariffs in the world.
Syria, Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco all
have applied tariff rates on agricultural
products that were on average over
20%.Protectionisttariffpoliciestosup-
port domestic producers can have both
positive and negative effects on food
systems and food affordability. Egypt,
once considered the breadbasket of the
Roman Empire, is currently the largest
importer of wheat in the world. Even in
aggregate terms, Egypt imports more
wheat than China. Despite this depend-
ency on wheat imports, Egypt applies
the highest average tariffs on agricul-
tural products at about 66%. Moreover,
Egypt is actively attempting to protect
domestic producers. In December 2012,
Egypt raised tariffs on raw sugar by 17%
only to remove them several months
later due to their inconsistency with in-
ternationaltraderegulations.
A global index and key findings
from The Economist Intelligence Unit
Overallresultsbyregionandincomelevel
Rank Score/100
1 NorthAmerica 88.9
2 Highincome 83.0
3 Europe&CentralAsia 72.0
4 EastAsia&Pacific 61.4
5 Uppermiddleincome 59.1
6 LatinAmerica&Caribbean 56.0
7 Allcountries 52.8
8 MiddleEast&NorthAfrica 51.8
9 Lowermiddleincome 38.5
10 SouthAsia 34.6
11 Sub-SaharanAfrica 26.3
12 Lowincome 24.3

2. © Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2013
Political conflict remains the largest
source of food insecurity in the MENA
region. In the 2013 GFSI, political in-
stability caused the biggest declines in
scores across the global scale and MENA
wasnoexception.
Politicsatthedinnertable
The Arab Spring’s mark on the region
hasbeenenormousandhasimpactedall
aspects of life. The causes and drivers of
these revolutions and protests relate to
deep social structures and issues within
the region. The catalyst, however, was a
Tunisian street food vendor, Mohamed
Bouazizi, who set himself ablaze to
protest the economic and social pains
he and other fellow citizens felt. Food
remains at the core of political life, par-
ticularly in developing countries, where
much larger portions of household in-
comesgotowardsfood.
Political conflict reduced food secu-
rity in Yemen and Syria during the past
year.Thesetwocountriesrecordedsome
ofthebiggestdeclinesintheindexfrom
2012, both dropping seven places. Vio-
lent conflict not only reduced political
stability but also hurt GDP growth, road
infrastructure and access to potable
water, and curbed the ability of formal
grocerysectorstoprovidefood.
Syria’s internal conflict is currently
frontandcenterontheglobalstage.Its
resolution remains elusive and unde-
termined. The solution to political sta-
bility in the region is larger and more
complicated than food security. But
the latter is a requirement to achieve
the former. Increased food security is
a necessary component to achieving
political stability.
Findingtheanswers
No single set of policies provides the
answers to food security. Certain poli-
ciescanmovecountriesclosertofinding
their own answers to the ever-chang-
ing challenge of feeding their popula-
tions. A massive wave of investment
in agricultural research and develop-
ment, beginning in the 1940s and last-
ing through the 1960s, is credited with
saving billions from starvation. Repli-
cating the Green Revolution, as it was
eventually called, has proved elusive to
other regions, most notably in Africa.
A country’s institutional framework is
paramount to capturing the benefits of
R&D.Corruptionandpoorinfrastructure
tax gains from investment. The MENA
regionasawholedoespoorlyinagricul-
tural investment. Its strong institutions
and well-developed infrastructure,
however,suggestthepotentialforlarge
gainsonceimplemented.
Bright spots do exist. Saudi Arabian
policy-makers had longed pushed for
food self-sufficiency. Recent reevalua-
tion of this idea, along with supporting
research by the FAO, found that the lev-
els of subsidies required to achieve this
goal were unsustainable, and the coun-
try decided to entirely phase out wheat
production by 2016. Wheat imports into
the region are set to rise significantly.
The Ministry of Agriculture has begun
encouraging foreign investment in the
sector. It is also pushing domestic firms
to invest abroad. United Farmers Hold-
ing Company, a Saudi Agribusiness con-
sortium, recently placed a US$77m bid
to buy Continental Farmers Group, an
Irish firm. This recent strategic move,
along with many others, has placed es-
timates of Saudi foreign investment in
agriculture into the tens of billions an-
nually.
Global Food Security 2013
Regional Focus: Middle East and North Africa
Regional
rank
GlobalRank Country Agricultural
tariffrate
1 17 Israel 16%
2 31 SaudiArabia 5%
3 47 Tunisia 33%
4 54 Jordan 18%
5 56 Egypt 66%
6 59 Morocco 41%
7 68 Algeria 23%
8 79 Syria 23%
9 93 Yemen 11%
Regional
rank
Country PublicexpenditureonagriculturalR&D
asa%ofagriculturalGDP
1 Israel 3%
2 SaudiArabia 3%
3 Tunisia 3%
4 Jordan 5%
5 Egypt 3%
6 Morocco 2%
7 Algeria 2%
8 Syria 1%
9 Yemen 1%
Food security and political risk
Source: Economist Intelligence Unit
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
OverallGFSIscore Political stability riskPolitical stability risk: Rating 0-100; 100=lowest risk
Overall score: Rating 0–100; 100=most secure
Syria
Jordan
Egypt
Yemen
Algeria
Morocco
Tunisia
Saudi Arabia
Israel