Saudi Looking Abroad to Secure Food for the Future

A. Read the article and study the vocabulary. Lacking in natural resources and dealing with harsh climate conditions, Saudi Arabia is now looking outward in a bid to secure food for its young and growing population. The country is counting on a new program for agricultural investment in foreign countries that aims to encourage the private sector to provide the kingdom with its needs of grains. We are very proud to say that 31 countries have approached us and requested to host Saudi investments, said Saad Khalil, Director-General of King Abdullahs Initiative for Saudi Agricultural Investment Abroad. The initiative represents a shift in government agricultural strategy as it moves to phase out a 30-year program to reach self-sufficiency in wheat and other crops. That goal has been reached, but it has also depleted the kingdoms scarce supplies of underground water. Saudi Arabia will become fully dependent on imported wheat from overseas destinations by 2016. Mr. Khalil told The Wall Street Journal that even though the program has had negative effects on water resources; there have been other positive effects in addition to reaching self-sufficiency. The program contributed to the settlement of Bedouins who used to roam the country in many places and these projects have helped to settle them down, he said. The Saudi official who spoke at the World Food Security Summit in Dubai this week said the solution to meet the increasing demand for food must come through partnerships between the public and private sector where both parties would share the risk of investment. He said the government realizes that the private sector is risk-averse, and they hope to encourage investors by offering interest-free loans and strategic partnerships through the state-owned Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company, or SALIC. A report by the U.N.s Food and Agriculture Organization last year said SALICs objective is to become a global agricultural investor targeting Bulgaria, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Poland, Romania, the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Uzbekistan as potential investment target geographies. African countries like Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia are also targeted. SALIC was established in 2011 with paid-up capital of $800 million and has the mandate to become a global agricultural investor and partner with agribusinessrelated businesses worldwide.
Article from: http://blogs.wsj.com/middleeast/2014/02/25/saudi-looking-abroad-to-secure-food-for-the-future/ Malena Sager, Student ID: C7132902 Multimedia Resources and Independent Learning

lacking = to not have enough harsh = unpleasant and severe agricultural = related to farming foreign = related to another country grains = seeds from a plant, especially wheat initiative = a new plan or process shift = change self-sufficient = able to take care of oneself or itself depleted = reduced dependent = needing the support of something or someone contributed = to give or provide something settle = to arrange a more permanent situation, especially homes or jobs solution = the answer to a problem risk-averse = unwilling to take risks interest-free = a loan with no extra payments mandate = official permission C. Study the definitions of these words in an online dictionary: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/ http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/ D. Study the concordance and the context of these vocabulary words on the British National Corpus: http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/

Malena Sager, Student ID: C7132902 Multimedia Resources and Independent Learning