How The Gulf Is Turning The Page To Become A Global Leader In Food Security
Just as earlier centers of agricultural innovation benefited from nature’s abundance, what now positions the Gulf as an emerging hub for global food security is the absence of it.
For much of our modern era, agricultural innovation emerged primarily from North America, Europe, and East Asia, where fertile land, abundant water, temperate climates, and sustained capital investment created the conditions for repeated breakthroughs in food production technologies. The Gulf, by contrast, with its hot and arid climate and proximity to established regional food producers, has not traditionally been a major contributor to agri-food innovation.
That storyline is now changing. Climate change and conflicts are disrupting farming and food systems worldwide, including in regions long considered “food secure.” Prolonged droughts in the US Midwest alone contributed more than US$11 billion in crop losses in 2024, and Ukraine’s grain output—a key supplier of global staple crops—has fallen by 34 percent since the war began in 2021.
This contraction in output carries global ramifications, particularly for countries that rely heavily on food imports from these long-established “breadbasket” regions. According to the UN World Food Program, 318 million people are expected to face severe food insecurity in 2026—roughly four percent of the global population, and more than double the number recorded just a decade ago. Most of those affected live in emerging economies in the rest of the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa with chronic water scarcity, diminishing arable land, and limited access to technical expertise.
To address this challenge, these countries must reduce reliance on food imports by ramping up domestic production, and they must do so using solutions that work in hot and arid conditions and can scale without heavy infrastructure investment. This is where the Gulf has carved out a distinct role. Operating in some of the world’s most challenging environments for agriculture, the region has long prioritized investment in farming technologies that are highly resource-efficient and thrive in desert conditions. This has driven innovation in areas such as controlled-environment production, precision-irrigation technologies, and salinity-tolerant crops, all designed to maximize output under extreme heat and severe water scarcity.
Salt- and heat-tolerant quinoa varieties designed and trialed in the UAE have already been piloted in Egypt, Ethiopia, and parts of the Sahel, where soil salinization and water scarcity pose similar constraints, while Saudi-developed heat-blocking greenhouse covering technology is now used by growers in Morocco, Portugal, and Spain. Beyond crops and materials, other resource-efficient farming technologies—such as artificial intelligence-assisted irrigation systems, and smart crop-monitoring sensors designed to perform under extreme heat conditions—are being advanced by our research institutions, and currently moving through pilot and deployment pipelines.
These technologies have found their natural testing ground in the Gulf, not only because of the region’s climate, but also due to its robust investment and innovation ecosystems, underpinned by active venture capital deployment, supportive policy frameworks, and well-established research and development infrastructure. Initiatives such as Riyadh’s Agricultural Development Fund have provided $2 billion in financing to homegrown agritech ventures across the Kingdom, and platforms like the UAE FoodTech Challenge, which concluded last week in Abu Dhabi, are attracting some of the world’s most promising agritech startups to pilot their solutions in the UAE, and use the country as a springboard to scale into global markets.
The depth of these ecosystems is also reflected in growing private-sector participation. Initiatives such as UAE-based real estate developer Arada’s Manbat program, delivered in partnership with the country’s Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, link local farms directly to retail channels, while familiarizing the public with technologies like hydroponics through on-site experiences, thereby helping embed agritech innovation in everyday economic life, and sustain long-term momentum around food security.
Just as earlier centers of agricultural innovation benefited from nature’s abundance, what now positions the Gulf as an emerging hub for global food security is the absence of it. The region’s hot, arid climate and its commitment to innovation have transformed constraint into advantage, driving the development of solutions designed for the world’s toughest realities. As food systems worldwide face growing pressures, the technologies pioneered here will continue to travel far beyond the region itself.
Pictured in the lead image is the Pure Harvest Oasis Farm in the UAE. Image courtesy Pure Harvest.
About The Author
Ekta Tolani is the Chief of Investments for KBW Ventures, a partner of the 2026 UAE FoodTech Challenge. Focusing exclusively on venture capital, value creation, and growth equity, KBW Ventures is an asset management company that targets direct investments in some of the world’s most highly sought-after private companies.
