ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with the agricultural situation and its potential for change in those Arab states that lie around the Gulf, including Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman. The area takes in some 26 million persons, of which approximately 53 per cent live in Iraq and 33 per cent in Saudi Arabia. The complexities of the situation are further exacerbated by different legacies of land ownership and tenure not to mention great variations in attitudes towards land, water and farming by government and people. The complexities of the situation are further exacerbated by different legacies of land ownership and tenure not to mention great variations in attitudes towards land, water and farming by government and people. The present position of agriculture is much diminished from the recent past. The relative importance of agriculture within national production declined throughout the region at an accelerating pace during the 1960s and 1970s.
