Environment and Economy of Kuwait

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Environment and Economy of Kuwait

Kuwait is not self-sufficient in agriculture but the country will be

in the future. Its production of cereals, vegetables and fruit grown in the

oasis of Jahra and scattered smallholdings is not sufficient for the

population's needs, due to limitations of water supply, fertile soil,

climate and manpower. Much of its food needs to be imported but government

investment and the work of the Kuwait Experimental farm have led to

improvements whereby existing resources are more efficiently utilized.

Kuwait is a small arid desert land of about 6200 square miles. There

is virtually no natural source of fresh water. Climatic conditions entail

occasional high winds and dust storms, little or no rainfall, and summer

temperatures as high as 120øF. "Consequently, arable land amounts to less

than 9% of total acreage."1 Soil deficiencies and the intense heat and

sunlight allow continued cultivation only by expensive underground pipe-fed

irrigation or by hydroponics. Ordinary irrigation under these conditions

results in gradually increasing soil salinity. this phenomenon has been the

cause of the estimated 1% annual decrease in arable land for the region as

a whole. Hence, development of traditional agriculture is severely

restricted.

Kuwaitis are under no illusion that self-sufficiency will take less

than 20 to 30 years to attain and even then it cannot include such items as

beef and cereals. For Kuwait cereal production is considered too expensive

and unnecessary. Self-sufficiency in poultry, vegetables and fruit is a

visible goal: already Kuwait produces 60% of the eggs it needs, 40% of the

poultry meat and 100% of the tomatoes. The next emphasis is likely to be on

dairy farming and animal husbandry to increase the 25% of the required milk

supplies that is produced in the country. The Kuwaitis are very conscious

of the fact that urban growth and the hunting of animals which used to live

in the desert has meant the virtual extinction of wildlife. Kuwait is

importing from many countries animals such as cows, chickens and sheep.

In view of Kuwait's extremely unpromising natural environment which

was made even worse after the Persian Gulf War, the key to all its hopes

for self-sufficiency lies in research and experiments. Their experimental

farm research farm:Omariya, the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research

and the Kuwait Fund for the Advancement of Sciences are engaged in a

variety of projects concerned with the hybridization of plants, animal

breeding, the increase of yields in desert conditions, the treatment of

brackish water and effluent water, irrigation methods, etc.

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