Why do Saudis buy large farms?

In December, one of the largest companies in Ukraine bought up by the Arabs. This concerns Mriya Farming, which owns an area of ​​150.000 hectares. In addition, various insiders report that the Saudis will soon buy up a very large company in Australia.

Why are they doing this?
This buying up is mainly due to the major water shortage in Saudi Arabia. While 2018 was very dry for us, it would be a piece of cake for the Saudis. National Geographic writes that previously (before the share of intensive agriculture increased) there was 500 million cubic meters of water under the desert.

However, in recent years approximately 25 million cubic meters have been pumped to the surface annually for agricultural use. The problem is that this cannot be compensated, because it rains little to very little in this region. Various experts expect that approximately 80% of the 'fossil water' has already disappeared.

Huge water use
It is not surprising that the country is running out of water. In the report 'Growing potatoes in the desert' shows and reads how impressive the water consumption of the Saudis is. Although a lot is changing these days, because the government has also noticed that consumption is spiraling out of control. That is why less and less water can be extracted.

It is expected that in a few years no more water will be allowed to be pumped at all. In addition, irrigation will probably no longer be allowed next year. The government has also determined that wheat may no longer be grown since 2016. This has removed Saudi Arabia from the list of the world's largest wheat exporters.

Independent of oil 
However, the Arabs also need food. In the short term they can easily pay for this with the money they raise from oil sales, but those supplies are also gradually running out. In addition, this means that when the oil price is low, there is not enough to import. The question remains how they will solve that.