Alarmed by exporting countries’ trade restrictions, importing countries have realised that their dependence on the international food market makes them vulnerable not only to an abrupt surge in prices but, more crucially, to an interruption in supplies.

Gulf banks and businessmen were yesterday urged to invest less money in the real estate sector and turn to food industries.

The UAE is exploring opportunities in the Philippines to ensure the availability of certain food stocks in the country, an official said.

Beijing is adding agricultural investments to its “go outward” strategy, under which domestic businesses are encouraged to venture into foreign markets.

The Arabian Peninsula is currently flooded with petrodollars, giving the Gulf Arabs a wide array of investment options abroad. But while these countries are winners in the oil market, they are losers in the food market. As a result, the Gulf Arabs - with Saudi Arabia at the fore - are pursuing a strategy to buy their food security through overseas agribusiness investment.

Bahrain is eyeing a major food production programme with the Philippines in a bid to ensure food security in the Kingdom.

As food crisis worsens, some nations are desperate for arable land

Bahrain wants to invest in rice farmland in the Philippines, the world's top importer of the grain, in a move to boost food security as global food supplies become increasingly expensive, traders said on Wednesday.

Bahrain Minister of Industry and Commerce Dr. Hassan bin Abdullah Fakhro pointed out today that an agreement was reached with officials in the Philippines to allocate large plots of land to grow Basmati rice in a bid to secure the Kingdom's needs for such a product at reasonable prices

“It is the government’s policy to encourage all companies to go abroad, including agricultural firms,” a Chinese Agriculture Ministry official told Reuters.