Saudi Arabia plans to phase out production of all water-intensive crops that have depleted the desert kingdom's scarce water supplies, Saudi's water and electricity minister said yesterday.

"We have a plan to phase out all the production of water intensive crops in order to preserve water," said Abdullah bin Abdul-Rahman Al Husayen on the sidelines of an industry conference in Dubai.

The crops include wheat, soya beans and animal fodder, he said, declining to comment on when the crops will be phased out.

"It would be best to grow these kinds of crops outside Saudi Arabia."

Agriculture accounts for 66 per cent of human water consumption worldwide, according to the World Water Council. And in Saudi Arabia where the resource is already scarce, the government is towards more conservation in the agriculture sector.

The kingdom needs around 2.6 million tonnes of wheat annually, and the government said last year it would rely entirely on wheat imports by 2016.

"Imports and growing water intensive crops outside Saudi is a more feasible option for us," said Husayen.

Like other wealthy Gulf states, Saudi Arabia has been buying foreign farmland in Asia and Africa to secure food supplies after inflation had nearly doubled the price of food last year.

So far foreign investors have acquired some 15-20 million hectares of farmland in poorer countries since 2006, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute.


Glaxo Saudi's sole supplier of H1N1 vaccine

British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline is currently Saudi Arabia's sole supplier of an H1N1 flu vaccine but the kingdom may include other firms for the supply of a nationwide inoculation campaign, said the health ministry.

Saudi Arabia's vaccination campaign was launched yesterday and will first focus on pilgrims and health workers.

"For the moment, the only vaccine that has been authorised is the GlaxoSmithKline vaccine Pandemrix," said health ministry spokesman Khaled Mirghalani.

"We will in the future get vaccines from other clients, from other companies, as soon as they get approved by the SFDA (Saudi Food and Drug Authority)," he said.

The country will launch later this month a second inoculation campaign aimed at schools, Health Minister Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Rabeea said yesterday.

GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi-Aventis are among some 25 firms producing pandemic vaccine and other drugmakers including Switzerland's Roche are making antivirals for use as a frontline H1N1 drug. About 6,000 people worldwide have died as a result of H1N1 infection since inception.

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