FAO.org

The Agricultural Outlook 2018-2027 is a collaborative effort of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. It brings together the commodity, policy and country expertise of both organisations and input from collaborating member countries to provide an annual assessment of prospects for the coming decade of national, regional and global agricultural commodity markets.

This year’s edition contains a special chapter on the prospects and challenges of agriculture and fisheries in the Middle East and North Africa that reviews the prospects and challenges facing the agricultural sector in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. A dominant concern in the MENA region is its high and growing dependence on international markets for key staple food products, as arable land and water grows scarcer. Policies in the region support grain production and consumption, with the result that 65% of cropland is planted with water-thirsty cereals, in particular wheat which accounts for a large share of calorie intake. The outlook for the MENA region projects slow growth in food consumption, gradual changes in diet to include higher livestock consumption, continued water use at unsustainable rates, and continued and increasing reliance on world markets. An alternative approach to food security would reorient policies towards rural development, poverty reduction, and support for production of higher-value horticulture products. Such a change would contribute to more diversified and healthier diets, but would require building the capacity of farmers to minimise risk while raising higher value crops

See also the AgOutlook Summary