Food Security of the Population of Arab Countries in the First Decades of the 21st Century

Aim. To identify the level of food security of Arab countries on the basis of system economic and geographical analysis, to determine the main factors causing the problems of food security of the population of the selected group of states.
Methodology. Various geographical methods were applied in the course of the study: cartographic, historical-geographical, comparative-geographical, economic-statistical, as well as elements of system analysis. The differentiation of Arab countries in terms of food situation was carried out by cluster analysis. The Food Availability Index (FAI) for Arab countries was calculated on the basis of a large set of statistical data, showing a wide range of food availability, while comparative-geographical and factor analyses helped to explain the basic reasons for the differentiation of countries in terms of food availability. ArcGIS, Adobe Illustrator, QGIS-maps, and Microsoft Excel programmes were used to construct cartographic materials and charts reflecting the main results of the work.
Results. It is shown that the majority of Arab countries in the first two decades of the xxI century had serious problems with food security. The most acute ones are in the states where military conflicts do not subside, first of all in Yemen, Syria and Sudan. Due to objective reasons (lack of fresh water, shortage of fertile land, immaturity of existing productive forces and production relations), the key factor for most countries of the group is the lag between food production and consumer demand. In the Arab region there are multidirectional processes in food supply: malnutrition is increasing in conflict-ridden and low-income countries (Iraq, Mauritania, Morocco, Sudan), while obesity is a growing concern in high- and middle-income countries (Kuwait, UAE, Saudi Arabia). International food trade and its volumes are in many cases determined by political motives rather than economic and commercial factors. The analysis reveals the most effective ways to overcome the problems of food security in Arab countries.
Research implications. New material on the topic under study is summarized and proposals for achieving food security as the basis of economic security of countries are formulated. It is shown that food security and food security of the countries of the region is mosaic in a wide range and is determined by a large spectrum of economic, social and geopolitical factors. The conducted research has both theoretical and practical significance, in particular for a better understanding of Russia's economic and geopolitical interaction with the Arab countries.

1. Abramova I. O., Fituni L. L. [The Impact of Structural and Macroeconomic Imbalances on Fundamental Trends of Socioeconomic Development of the Countries of the Middle East and North Africa]. In: Kontury posleduyushchikh transformatsiy: politika, ekonomika, pravo [Contours of Global Transformations: Politics, Economics, Law], 2017, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 13–33. DOI: 10.23932/2542-0240-2017-10-2-13-33

2. Deryugina I. V., ed. Agrarnyye problemy i novyye modeli ekonomicheskogo razvitiya v stranakh Vostoka [Agrarian Problems and New Models of Economic Development in the Countries of the East]. Moscow, Institute of Oriental Studies Publ., 2021. 544 p.

3. Filonik A. O., ed. Arabskiy Vostok. Agrarnoye razvitiye i sotsial'nyye tendentsii [The Arab East. Agrarian Development and Socioeconomic Trends]. Moscow, Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences Publ., 2020. 444 p. DOI: 10.31696/9785892829830

4. Filonik A. O., ed. Arabskiy Vostok v labirinte sotsial'no-ekonomicheskikh problem [The Arab East in the Labyrinth of Socio-Economic Problems]. Mocow, Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences Publ., 2022. 226 p.

5. Filonik A. O., ed. Arabskiy Vostok v poiske optimal'nykh sotsial'no-ekonomicheskikh resheniy [The Arab East in Search of Optimal Socio-Economic Solutions]. Moscow, Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences Publ., 2022. 210 p.

6. Baldov D. V., Suslov S. A. [Methodology for Calculating the Level of Food Security]. In: Vestnik NGIEI [Bulletin of NGIEI], 2016, no. 1, pp. 13–26.

7. Vlasov V. A. [The concept and relationship of the categories "food supply" and "food security": domestic experience]. In: Sotsialno-ekonomicheskiy i gumanitarnyy zhurnal Krasnoyarskogo GAU [Socio-economic and humanitarian journal of the Krasnoyarsk SAU], 2018, no. 4, pp. 3–11.

8. Gumerov R. R. [Food security: new approaches to content analysis and assessment]. In: Problemy prognozirovaniya [Problems of Forecasting], 2020, no. 5, pp. 133–141. DOI: 10.1134/S107570072005007X

9. Gusakov N. P., Shkvarya L. V. [Socio-economic development of the countries of North Africa and the Middle East at the present stage]. In: Vestnik RUDN. Seriya: Ekonomika [Bulletin of RUDN University. Series: Economy], 2008, no. 1, pp. 12–21.

10. Dolgov B. V. [Syrian Crisis (2011–2021): Development of the Conflict]. In: Islamovedeniye [Islam Studies], 2021, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 5–21. DOI: 10.21779/2077-8155-2021-12-3-5-21

11. Kozintsev A. S. [Water Security in the Middle East and North Africa: New Facets of an Old Problem]. In: Ekonomicheskiye i sotsialnyye problemy Rossii [Economic and Social Problems of Russia], 2021, no. 1, pp. 88–105. DOI: 10.31249/espr/2021.01.05

12. Krassov O. I. [Land Tenure Systems in the Maghreb Countries]. In: Sravnitelnoye pravovedeniye [Comparative Law], 2016, no. 6, pp. 184–202. DOI: 10.17803/1729-5920.2016.115.6.184-202

13. Deryugina I. V., ed. Prodovolstvennaya i resursnaya bezopasnost' v stranakh Azii i Afriki [Food and Resource Security in Asia and Africa]. Moscow, Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences Publ., 2023. 582 p.

14. Starikov N. A. [Typology of countries of the world by the peculiarities of the food situation]. In: Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya 5. Geografiya [Bulletin of Moscow University. Series 5. Geography], 2015, no. 6, pp. 48–56.

15. Ahmed M., Hayat R., Ahmad M. et al. Impact of Climate Change on Dryland Agricultural Systems: A Review of Current Status, Potentials, and Further Work Need. In: International Journal of Plant Production, 2022, no. 16, pp. 341–363. DOI: 10.1007/s42106-022-00197-1

16. Al-Kandari Y. The prevalence of obesity in Kuwait and its relation to socio-cultural variables. In: Obesity Reviews, 2016, no. 7. Р. 147–154.

17. Khalil A. A., Kheir A. M. S., Ali B M., Sundarakani B., Manikas I. Developing an analytical framework for estimating food security indicators in the United Arab Emirates. In: Environ Dev Sustain, 2023, Feb. 22, pp. 1–20. DOI: 10.1007/s10668-023-03032-3

18. Basheer M., Nechifor V., Calzadilla A., et al. Cooperative adaptive management of the Nile River with climate and socio-economic uncertainties. In: Nature Climate Change, 2023, vol. 13, pp. 48–57. DOI: 10.1038/s41558-022-01556-6

19. Khouri N., Shideed K., Kherallah M. Food security: perspectives from the Arab World. In: Food Security, 2011, vol. 3, pp. 1–6. DOI: 10.1007/s12571-010-0101-4

20. Saud A. Food Security from an Islamic. In: Journal of Islamic Studies and Thought for Specialized Researches (JISTSR), 2020, vol. 6, no 1, pph. 40–87.