Among the towns of the Dutch countryside, Wageningen stands out as a global model that transcends its identity as a quiet university city. It is renowned as one of the world's leading hubs of agricultural and food innovation, where an integrated ecosystem encompassing scientific research, technology, investment, and the private sector has developed around Wageningen University & Research.

This transformation was not merely a success story of a university town, but a model that redefined the concept of food security from a focus on increasing production to building a knowledge-based system capable of improving resource efficiency, enhancing supply chain resilience, and converting innovation into sustainable economic value.

This experience raises a question that transcends the borders of the Netherlands: In the 21st century, is food security measured by the volume of agricultural production, or by countries' ability to build flexible systems capable of managing risks and sustaining supplies?

During my visit to Wageningen, it became clear that the success of this model was not based solely on increasing agricultural production, but on the integration of scientific research, innovation, the private sector, and supportive policies. Hence, food security shifted from a production issue to one linked to countries' ability to manage resources and risks and build more efficient and sustainable supply chains.

The successive global crises, from the coronavirus pandemic to geopolitical tensions and supply chain disruptions, have revealed that food security is no longer measured merely by food availability, but by countries' ability to ensure supply sustainability and adapt to shocks. With the escalating impact of trade restrictions, climate change, and competition for natural resources, food security has become a fundamental pillar of economic security and national sovereignty.

From this perspective, the success of food policies is no longer linked solely to levels of self-sufficiency, but to their ability to build an integrated system based on diversifying supply sources, improving the efficiency of logistics services and supply chains, and accelerating the adoption of modern agricultural technologies, thereby enhancing the economy's capacity to adapt to global changes.

Our kingdom recognized this shift early on, so food security is no longer managed merely as an agricultural file, but has become part of the targets of Saudi Vision 2030, aimed at enhancing the resilience of the national economy and diversifying growth sources.

This direction has been reflected in a number of qualitative initiatives and investments; the Agricultural Development Fund has injected over 25 billion riyals in financing over the past five years, which contributed to stimulating agricultural investments exceeding 36 billion riyals. These investments reflect a shift from supporting traditional production to building a more efficient and sustainable agricultural system based on raising productivity and enhancing the resilience of the food sector.

However, the next stage requires a transition from enhancing production to maximizing the economic value of the food security system. The challenge is no longer limited to ensuring supply availability, but extends to maximizing system efficiency and enhancing its ability to deal with global changes. From this standpoint, food security has become a promising economic sector opening horizons for investment in innovation and food value chains, contributing to creating quality job opportunities, boosting local content, and raising the economy's competitiveness.

Reducing food loss and waste also represents one of the highest-return investments in the food security system; it contributes to improving resource efficiency, reducing pressure on water and energy, lowering import costs, without the need to increase agricultural production, making it an effective economic tool as well as a developmental goal.

Based on that, five strategic pathways emerge that can contribute to enhancing the efficiency of the food security system and increasing its resilience and readiness in the next phase:

First: Developing a national food security resilience index that measures the food system's ability to adapt and recover from shocks by integrating indicators of import source diversification, strategic stock levels, logistics service efficiency, and supply chain recovery speed, to serve as a periodic reference for assessing the readiness of the national system.

Second: Developing a national framework for measuring the economic return of food security investments, assessing the long-term impact of investments in infrastructure, innovation, and agricultural technologies by measuring their contribution to GDP, productivity gains, local content enhancement, and reduction of economic risks, thereby helping to direct future investments toward the highest added value.

Third: Integrating food security risks into the national economic risk management system, so that food-related risks become part of the overall risk assessment of the economy, thereby enhancing integration among economic, trade, logistics, and agricultural policies, and improving crisis response efficiency.

Fourth: Developing a national methodology for measuring the economic value of reducing food loss and waste, so that evaluation of initiatives is not limited to the quantity of food saved, but extends to measuring their impact on rationalizing water and energy consumption, reducing emissions, lowering import costs, and enhancing resource efficiency.

Fifth: Strengthening the role of the private sector as a partner in developing the food security system by expanding its participation in investment, innovation, and food value chains, and linking investment incentives to performance, productivity, and sustainability indicators, thereby contributing to raising system efficiency and enhancing its long-term competitiveness.

Today, the resilience of the food system has become one of the most important indicators of economies' readiness to face crises. Food security is no longer linked solely to production volume, but to countries' ability to manage risks, maximize resource efficiency, and turn innovation into sustainable economic value. In this context, the next phase is not limited to launching new initiatives, but extends to developing performance measurement tools, enhancing governance, and improving risk management efficiency, ensuring the sustainability of the food security system, enhancing its contribution to economic growth, and supporting Saudi Arabia's ambition to become a global center for innovation in food security solutions for arid environments.

Advisor in Economic Policies and Strategic Planning