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UAE feeds need for affordable food

Dubai - Along with Qatar and Kuwait, GCC leads by example with excellent policies

The UAE, Qatar and Kuwait are the top-performing GCC countries in the Global Food Affordability category.
Qatar landed first in the world, followed by the UAE in third and Kuwait in sixth. All three are high-income countries with a low prevalence of poverty and plenty of public money flowing into their small agricultural sectors, according to the findings of the 2016 Global Food Security Index, or GFSI.
Food security has improved across the globe over the past five years mainly due to the rising incomes across countries, general improvement in the global economy, and falling food prices. The index, an annual measure of food security across 113 countries, shows that over three quarters of the countries in the 2016 GFSI have experienced food security improvements within the same period.
Government efforts in the Mena region have produced positive results, as its GFSI score saw an ascent by 0.1 points to reach a total rating of 62.1.
Under the food affordability category, the UAE shared the third slot with the United States, with the report citing the high-income country's small population and well-funded public sector as main contributors to food affordability across the state. They were followed by Australia, Ireland, Austria and Germany. Overall, the UAE ranked fifth in the Mena region and 30th in the world, according to the index released by DuPont, an integrated science company, and the Economist Intelligence Unit.
"Over the past five years, we have seen various Mena governments implementing comprehensive food safety programmes to attain their respective food security goals. These key initiatives have effectively driven their total GFSI score ahead of other regions in the world," said Amr El Moniem, UAE country manager at DuPont. He said GCC countries in particular have demonstrated unwavering commitment, especially in terms of food affordability and appropriate measures have been successfully undertaken to achieve its relevant objectives.
"Aside from the Arab countries, European nations have also demonstrated impressive improvements in their bid to ensure food security for all. The 2016 GFSI has shown encouraging overall results, further inspiring us to intensify our efforts towards ensuring food security across the world."
Poor scores in the availability and quality and safety categories, however, have held back the Mena region's overall GFSI scores. Fluctuations in agricultural output on account of their extreme climate and small agricultural sectors, along with the expiry of the 2015 national nutrition plans in Bahrain and the UAE, have contributed to the region's weaker performances in these categories.
The Asia-Pacific region has made the biggest gain of plus-2.1 points in establishing functioning food-safety net programmes, led by Indonesia and Myanmar, while Sub-Saharan Africa has improved by 0.8 points on this indicator. Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia were the five landlocked countries in tje GFSI's 40 most food-secure countries in 2016. They are considered high-income countries with large agricultural sectors and in close geographic proximity to other top performing countries. Thirty-five of the GFSI's top 40 most food-secure countries are coastal countries.
"Despite major strides in global food security efforts, hunger and food insecurity still persist. Weather and climate change-related risks, as well as market-distorting government food policies, pose risks to food prices and food availability in the future," said the report.
The index shows that more countries experienced score declines in national nutritional standards between 2015 and 2016. Thirty-six countries - mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, and Central Asia - in the GFSI still do not have national dietary guidelines that encourage populations to adopt a balanced, nutritious diet.
- issacjohn@khaleejtimes.com