Import dependence is not solved by buying more. It is solved by owning parts of the chain that can be redirected.
Gulf food security discussions default quickly to two options: import more, or grow more locally. Both are constrained — the first by geopolitics, the second by water.
A third option receives less attention and carries more leverage: owning the parts of the chain between production and consumption. Storage, processing, cold chain, distribution and quality infrastructure determine how much of what arrives is actually usable, and how quickly supply can be re-sourced when a corridor closes.
Those assets are unglamorous and capital-intensive, which is precisely why they are under-owned. They also compound: a processing and cold-chain network built for one commodity stream generally serves the next one too.
The group's agrifoods position within its essential services mandate follows this reasoning — investing in the redirectable middle of the chain rather than competing at either end of it.
