Enhancing food storages to strengthen food security system in Kuwait

There are several countries around the world, including the State of Kuwait, that lack production of foodstuff consistently and sufficiently to fulfill their needs as arable lands and water sources have become scarce, and ranked as poor in the agriculture and water field.

Kuwait imports over 95 percent of its food needs in a fashion that makes it vulnerable to risks of international crises that negatively affect import activities.

Despite that, Kuwait occupies advanced ranks in the food security concept on regional and international levels. In the country, residents are able to obtain their food needs all year round with a good purchasing power within the strategic storage of the national food security. According to global food security indicators of recent years, Kuwait has succeeded in countering risks of global high costs.

These indicators are based on several factors, some of which include bearing costs of foodstuffs import, availability of required foodstuff quantities, for a specific time period, that are of good quality and sound consumption validity.

Therefore, the State of Kuwait has good and safe food stockpiles, whether at public sector or private sector, including foodstuff companies.

One of the most significant elements of strengthening food security field, which plays a pivotal role in dealing with emergency cases that threaten food security in any society, is the availability of good storage houses to preserve foodstuffs, particularly strategic commodities, for an appropriate time period.

The importance of storage lies in providing a commodity stock, preserving quality and consumer goods in order to ensure their flow to several destinations. Moreover, building storage houses are essential for ensuring consistent flow of required foodstuffs and protecting their prices locally, even when they are increased by their main producers.

The history of storage dates back thousands of years ago when people began to store their food in various ways such as salting, drying, smoking, pickling, and fermentation. During the eighteenth century, people developed natural cooling methods to store their food by digging holes of certain measures under the ground, basements, cellars, and waterways.

Thereafter, refrigerators started to be in use in the early 1940s, coinciding with the emergence of the electric revolution. They went on to be in use till present time as, subsequently, cooling and freezing means and techniques evolved creatively over the decades to preserve all sorts of foodstuff and preventing them from spoilage and deterioration.

Food storage strategy in Kuwait

The State of Kuwait’s only choice to meet its foodstuff needs is through dependence upon importation, which, in turn, could expose the country to risks of commodity supplies. Since long ago, the Kuwaiti official bodies had sought, and still are exerting great efforts to secure the strategic stockpile of various sorts and types of foodstuffs.

The country has plans to secure the continuity of food stockpile, and protect it from global price fluctuations. It provides land areas to construct warehouses and silos, for companies or bodies related to the field of food commodities and raw materials used in food manufacturing, to secure food sustainability. There are several storages of various storing areas and capacities, including state-owned, private-owned, and co-op societies-owned ones.

The aforementioned bodies have, and still, continued to supply citizens and residents in the country with various sorts of essential food commodities, as such an action helped the country withstand crises it faced in past and recent years, including the Iraqi invasion and the coronavirus, during which supply chains were disrupted due to the global lockdown, in addition to scarcity of some essential food commodities as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

Storages, warehouses, and silos are considered as the backbone of preserving strategic foodstuffs of consumption needs. However, fears over food security in Kuwait escalate whenever regional or international crisis take place. Such events could negatively affect the stability of food stockpile and stop import traffic from abroad.

It is worth mentioning that the State of Kuwait does not suffer from abundance of food. However, it does have a good strategic stockpile reserve. Moreover, the storage houses, in capacities and quantities, have no lacks, but, however, they are in need for reorganization and redistribution.
It is necessary to determine the areas of land distributed over several adequate sites with a security strategy to build warehouses and storages that suit the country’s conditions, whether underground or above ground.
It is also necessary to manage these storages through specialized bodies in that field, and that their carrying capacity covers the country’s needs. Also, these storages must be of higher quality than its current status in order to secure longevity and validity of foodstuffs, and preserve the quality of the food according to the food security system.

Food storages issues in Kuwait

There are large numbers of food storages and warehouses scattered across the State of Kuwait, some of whom are organized and some are not, including small-sized ones located in densely populated residential areas, and other large-sized ones in commercial areas, including industrial and agricultural.

Many of these storage facilities are exposed to problems, including technical and health. Some of the major ones can be summarized in the following:

1. Lack of experience of storage workers in handling conditions when storing various foodstuffs and following up with the inventory transaction.
2. Lack of knowledge in storage units’ inventory, as well as in identifying required quantities and pilling foodstuffs without distributing and marketing them in slated and appropriate time, leading to their spoilage and financial losses.
3. Failure to implement the technical specifications of designing storages, in addition to the absence of their safety and security means.
4. Negligence of periodic administrative observation, by owners of specialized food-related companies, of the storing procedures. Furthermore, several existing storages and warehouses operated illegally in the past and away from official bodies’ observation.

Strategic food storage requirements

In order to elevate the level of strategic food stockpile in the country, there should be a desperate need for a reconsideration, through the upcoming five-year plan strategies, in the field of developing and allocating vital areas for purposes of storing according to their designs. These designs would be based on engineering and scientific foundations and of high-efficiency in preserving the quality of foodstuffs for a long period of time, ranging from 12-18 months to prevent unexpected crises in the future. It is also necessary to implement and adhere to the requirements of storages and warehouses.

The significance of food storage lies in the fact that it is a scientific process with designs that suit the nature of the stockpile and its different materials. The process also has a good control in the environment surrounding these materials, whether inside the storage, grain silos, or warehouses. There are several conditions for constructing and managing food storages. Briefly, the most significant conditions for strategic food storages are as follows:

1. The scientific and engineering foundations must be followed in managing and designing storages in order to minimize costs of risk, which is the loss resulted from spoilage of foodstuffs due to bad storing and outdated stockpile, and that, in return, could decrease its nutritional and purchasing value. Moreover, the policy of “Waste Reduction” must be followed when rationing the required quantities according to actual needs, in addition to the estimated reserves. It is also necessary to maintain what is known as a “stock reserve” or a “safety stockpile”, which can be defined as “keeping an amount of stockpile to meet emergency conditions or unexpected requests during certain periods of time”.
2. The storage design must be of criteria and according to the nature and types of foodstuffs, whether they were grains, meats, liquids, raw materials, dried products, and others.
3. Providing means of security, observation, protection, and general safety for the workers in order to prevent injuries during work.
4. Implementing technical activation for warehouses and storages to overcome difficulties of transportation and handling, save time and effort, and facilitate the structure of handling procedures. The storages must also be supplied by modern electromechanical devices of high efficiency to preserve the quality of foodstuffs and protect them from damages and spoilage, including an automatic observation of the stockpile.
5. Providing areas suitable for future expansions, and increasing storage capacity for essential commodities according to estimates of needs.

General Recommendations

Some of the important notes related to food storing in Kuwait include lack of technical-designed storages, as well as their poor efficiency and insufficiency on the country’s level. Another is the absence of a good utilization of lands and areas allocated for storage. Other include poor official observation of health and storage requirements in some used storages. The most important recommendations can be addressed as follows:

1. It is necessary for Kuwaiti official bodies to make an inventory of all storages and warehouses affiliated with public and private sectors in the country, evaluate them technically, healthily, and environmentally, in addition to overviewing suitability of their storage capacities and ways of developing them.
2. The country must take necessary procedures to determine and allocate sufficient areas of appropriate lands for the construction of all sorts of storages with designs suitable for the conditions of various areas in Kuwait.
3. The private sector’s involvement is essential for mapping out strategies, in cooperation with official bodies, in the field of eco-friendly food security storages and warehouses.
4. Seeking the assistance of local or international consultatory firms specialized in this field is essential for conducting technical, economic, and environmental studies related to food security storages.

Conclusion

Constructing highly efficient complexes for all sorts of food storages and locating them in separate areas of the country to suit Kuwait’s conditions, as well as health and environmental requirements is one of the beneficial strategies in this regard. It is also necessary to equip such complexes with laboratories to conduct necessary examinations of materials meant for storage and later distribution to consumption centers and markets. In addition, establishing coordination among various related bodies in the country is important for boosting efforts to construct food security storages.

Some of the key bodies related to food security in the country include Kuwait Livestock Trading, which provides various sorts of red meats and livestock throughout the year and contributes to more than 80 percent of the country’s needs. There is also Kuwait Flour Mills and Bakeries Company, which contributes to providing all raw foodstuffs and high-quality essential products, in addition to providing main ingredients for fodder.

Moreover, local producers such as Kuwaiti Union of Farmers Market, Union of Fresh Dairy Producers, and many private sectors-affiliated bodies have a role in providing part of the food security through the production of various crops, in addition to raising poultry and livestock such as sheep and cows that provide fresh products. This is what the government needs to work on in order to continue to provide generous support at concessional terms to local producers.