Frankly Speaking: Food crisis will have ‘huge impact’ on Middle East, says agritech entrepreneur David Meszaros

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Updated 19 June 2022
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Frankly Speaking: Food crisis will have ‘huge impact’ on Middle East, says agritech entrepreneur David Meszaros

  • CEO of Dutch company SmartKas plans to build “mega smart farm” that can provide food for the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia using renewable energy and water sources
  • Meszaros believes planet can feed 10 billion people by 2050 but not with current system as it will run out of food “within the next decade or so”

DUBAI: The brewing global food crisis will have a “huge impact” on the Middle East and North Africa, whose populations and economies have suffered “a critical blow” owing to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

That is according to Dr. David Meszaros, a technology entrepreneur and CEO of SmartKas, an agritech company that is building the largest smart farm in the Netherlands using artificial intelligence, drones and robotics.

“If we’re talking about today, if we’re talking about the next few weeks, there’s a huge impact for them,” he told Katie Jensen, the host of “Frankly Speaking,” the video interview show featuring leading regional and international policymakers and business leaders.

Meszaros also revealed plans to build a “mega smart farm” — run completely sustainably, completely autonomously, using only renewable sources of energy and water — to provide food for the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Speaking more broadly, he said the world can feed 10 billion people by 2050 but not with the current food system. “We’re going to run out of food within the next decade or so,” he said.

The comments come as the UN warns that global hunger levels are at a new record, with food prices about 30 percent higher since the outbreak of the war, food exports dropping significantly worldwide, and inflation soaring in many countries.

In the interview, Meszaros also offered his take on the real reasons for the food crisis, who will suffer most, why new technologies could be the solution and whether can they materialize quickly enough.

Referring to the MENA countries currently facing food insecurity, he said: “Their strong reliance on imported wheat, imported rice, all kinds of grains (and fertilizers) … is completely disrupting their economy, especially the agro-economy. And there is no other choice for the government than to buy food at an increased price to try to meet the demand for food.”

On the upside, according to Meszaros, it is not too late yet as the critical moment will come in another five to 10 years. “If they make the conscious decision to switch now, as in really now,” he said, “then within the next 6-12 months we could see the appearance of smart farms powered by whatever natural resources they have and producing their own food.”

Charles Michel, the EU president, has accused Russia of using food supplies as a “stealth missile” against developing countries, but Meszaros believes the causes of the crisis go deeper than just the war in Ukraine.

“I would say it’s a bit of a stretch to say that (the Russians) are solely to blame. We can all recall that we just had a supply-chain crisis the years prior, as well as an ongoing pandemic — and there are rumors of another wave reaching Europe and the MENA region soon,” he said.




A sunken Ukrainian warship is seen near the pier with the grain storage in Mariupol, scene of heavy destruction in the past weeks amid Russian missile and artillery strikes. (AP Photo) 

“We can actually turn back the clock all the way to the 1960s (as) the whole issue started back then. The world’s population is now two and a half times what it was in the 1960s.”

The global food crisis is “an ongoing, long-expected problem that has been brewing and brewing and brewing” which was “never taken seriously,” Meszaros said. As a case in point, he cited the use of fertilizers, which he said has increased by eight times since the 1960s “but because of diminishing returns, its effectiveness has dropped by about 95 percent.”

He likened the situation to running a business without having insurance. “You just hope for the best that nothing goes awry, but then it did,” he said, “and the frequency of these catastrophic events is just increasing.”

Having said that, Meszaros did not play down the importance of Russia’s role as the world’s largest exporter of fertilizers, or that of Russia and Ukraine jointly as the supplier of 30 percent of the world’s wheat supplies and 70 percent of its sunflower oil. Global food supplies are “under extreme stress (which) has been a huge blow not only to the regional, but global food supply as well,” he said. 




Fertilizers are stored at a factory compound in Moscow. Russia is the world’s largest exporter of fertilizers. (Shutterstock)

“The problem is that we have increasingly relied on an outdated, very, very old, obsolete food system. This food system positions itself on field farming, and, because of that, there is a non-renewable aspect to it,” Meszaros said.

“There is a continuous new need for fertilizers — whether that’s phosphorus, or nitrogen, or potassium-based fertilizers. There is still a need for (such fertilizers) and you cannot just expect the food system to switch in a matter of weeks or months.

“This is why people are seeing (the Russia-Ukraine) war as a massive trigger that finally made us realize that the current, unsustainable and non-renewable system just cannot continue.”

Meszaros is known for being a big advocate of the autonomous smart farm, having created the biggest of its kind in the Netherlands. But how exactly does it work?

He put it this way: “Imagine you have a farm field. You try to grow strawberries on it. Usually, you have a yield of 10 to 15 metric tons on one hectare. But on the same amount of land, when a 10 or 12-layer vertical farm is built by SmartKas, you can grow above 2,000 metric tons — that is, approximately 200 times more high-quality, pesticide-free and sustainably grown fresh strawberries. 




The Food and Agriculture Organization is advocating the adoption of smart farming to meet the world's food needs amid worsening climate change. (Courtesy: FAO.org)

“Not only that, but those are grown 24/7 — so from Jan. 1 until Dec. 31 — and they are grown right next to the city where they are sold.

“We are recirculating the water, we are using solar or wind or whatever energy is possible for us — and this is grown all pesticide-free and sold locally. So, we are cutting out the middleman, there’s no import, there’s no export and, by orders of magnitude, higher amounts. I am here in the Amsterdam location, but we also have a location in London, we have a R&D facility in Hungary and we are building a massive greenhouse in Brazil.”

Elaborating on his plans for creating a “mega farm” for several Gulf Cooperation Council countries, he said discussions are underway with government officials as well as individuals in the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

“What we believe in, is that, especially for the GCC countries, we could build one massive mega facility that — running completely sustainably, autonomously and using only renewable sources of energy and water — could feed the three countries,” he said.




Discussions are under way to create a “mega farm” for several Gulf Cooperation Council countries, says SmartKas CEO David Meszaros. (AN photo)

Meszaros envisions “a triangle format, where one equal piece of the triangle would be in one of the three countries,” supplemented by the introduction of “autonomous electric vehicles — trucks, essentially — for supplying fresh fruits and vegetables to the largest cities of these three countries.”

With regard to the location of the project, he said: “We can pick the most ideal position from a climate perspective, from a power-line perspective, from a water perspective etc.”

As for the total cost, he believes it would be between $900 million and $1.1 billion, with a capacity for producing “about 50,000 tons of fresh fruits and vegetables, which, according to our studies, would be more than enough for the fresh fruit and vegetable supply for these countries.”

Meszaros hopes to rely heavily on solar because, as he put it, “the sun is not in short supply in these countries, land is available and you can utilize it, and there are newer and newer technologies in photovoltaic, or PV, panels — some elevated, some transparent.”

 

 

He said SmartKas is experimenting with transparent PVs “which allow for even more energy generation per target area,” adding that “we have automated robots, strings, drones that can clean (dust and sand) from the panels regularly without human intervention.”

With regard to water supplies, he said there are some potential solutions. “Number one, because the systems themselves are hermetically closed, anything we can recycle. The recycling will not be perfect, we will have some losses. So, we would introduce two water-capture units,” he said.

“One would be a desalination plant and the other one would be an atmospheric water-generation unit that captures the humidity from the air. And, alongside the coastline, we have already done on-site studies on this. There’s just enough humidity in the air to capture between four to six thousand liters of water per unit per day.”

Meszaros said SmartKas “already has investors signed on … in all three countries,” and is talking to European investors and European public entities as well.

 

 

“We expect to finish the early-stage development pre-engineering and designs in the next two years, and then afterwards we can talk about construction,” he said. “Definitely not in the next two years. Probably three, four years (from now) is when we will see signs of this project.”

On a final note, Meszaros outlined some steps that he thinks should be put in place if the world is to feed a projected population of 10 billion by 2050.

“The first is to cut the reliance on fertilizers and inefficient farming methods,” he said.

“Not every country needs to have an autonomous AI-run farm. You can start small. You can use drones to better divide the pesticides, then you can use certain foil technologies, polytunnel technologies — what Spain uses, what Morocco uses — to protect the crops and then slowly every single country can transition.

“But, in essence, using technology and innovative solutions is the key towards providing food security in the world.”

 


Mother and son killed in flash floods in southern Jordan

Updated 16 sec ago
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Mother and son killed in flash floods in southern Jordan

  • The Belgian pair went missing as heavy rain caused flash floods across the country

JORDAN: The bodies were evacuated from the area, and an official investigation into the incident has been launched to determine the circumstances surrounding the tragedy.

A major search and rescue operation had been launched in Jordan after flash floods ripped through vast parts of the country at the weekend.

Hundreds of tourists were evacuated on Sunday as the floodwaters continued to rise.

The Petra Development of Tourism and Region Authority said heavy rain triggered flash floods in the city on Sunday.

A Public Security Directorate spokesman said specialized teams of personnel from Civil Defense, local police directorates, and the Gendarmerie Forces, conducted extensive search operations under what they described as “challenging weather conditions and difficult terrain”.

“Their efforts extended over many hours before the two victims were found deceased”, the report added.

Yazan Mahadin, commissioner of Petra Archaeology Park and Tourism at PDTRA said most of 1,785 tourists that visited on Sunday had been evacuated.

A further 14 who were trapped by floodwaters in the Western Ma’an Police Directorate were rescued uninjured.

Meanwhile a separate team was sent to Tafileh to search for a teenager who went missing while herding sheep in the Hasa area. 

The areas evacuated by the civil defense were Al-Khazneh, the Siq, the Roman Soldier’s Tomb, the Monastery, and the slopes of Prophet Harun.

Ticket sales to all major tourist attractions were suspended as a safety precaution, and the PDTRA is encouraging people to avoid flood paths and low-lying areas.


Lebanese army seizes Captagon pills, equipment at Syrian border

Updated 05 May 2025
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Lebanese army seizes Captagon pills, equipment at Syrian border

CAIRO: The Lebanese Army seized large quantities of Captagon pills in a raid on a manufacturing plant on the Lebanese-Syrian border, the Lebanese News Agency reported on Monday. 

An army unit, supported by a patrol from the Directorate of Intelligence, seized large quantities of pills in addition to equipment for producing Captagon, along with raw materials used in drug manufacturing. 


Israel approves Gaza ‘conquest’ plan, eyes expanded offensive and civilian relocation

Updated 6 min 55 sec ago
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Israel approves Gaza ‘conquest’ plan, eyes expanded offensive and civilian relocation

  • Netanyahu continues to promotes Trump’s plan for the voluntary departure of Gazans
  • Israel already controls about half of Gaza, including a border buffer zone and key corridors, forcing Palestinians into increasingly crowded area
  • Earlier on Monday, Gaza’s civil defense agency said two Israeli airstrikes killed at least 19 people
  • Israel’s security cabinet approved the possibility of humanitarian distribution in Gaza

TEL AVIV/GAZA STRIP: Israeli ministers on Monday agreed to ramp up the war against Hamas in Gaza, an official said, with plans to capture more territory in the beleaguered Palestinian enclave and call up tens of thousands of reserve soldiers.

An Israeli political source told AFP that Israel’s security cabinet approved a plan that includes the “conquest” of the Gaza Strip and continued promotion of emigration for Gazans. The source said the plan entails "the conquest of the Gaza Strip and the holding of the territories, moving the Gaza population south for their protection," adding that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “continues to promote” US President Donald Trump’s plan for the voluntary departure of Gazans.

The plan, which the official said would be gradual, could mark a significant escalation in the fighting, which resumed in mid-March after Israel and Hamas failed to agree on extending an eight-week truce. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. 

An Israeli campaign group said Monday that the plan adopted by Israel's security cabinet is “sacrificing” hostages held in the Palestinian territory.

“The plan approved by the cabinet deserves to be called the 'Smotrich-Netanyahu Plan' for sacrificing the hostages,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement, in a reference to far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Netanyahu. 

On Sunday, Israel’s military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, said the army was calling up tens of thousands of reserve soldiers and would “operate in additional areas” in Gaza while continuing to strike militant infrastructure.

Israel already controls roughly half of Gaza’s territory, including a buffer zone along the border and three east-west corridors across the Strip, squeezing war-weary Palestinians into ever smaller and more densely populated pockets of land.

For weeks, Israel has sought to pressure Hamas into showing greater flexibility in ceasefire negotiations. In early March, it halted the entry of humanitarian aid — a ban that remains in place and has triggered a dire humanitarian crisis. Hunger is widespread, and desperation has fueled looting and civil unrest.

Israeli Airstrikes

Earlier on Monday, Gaza’s civil defense agency said two Israeli airstrikes killed at least 19 people in the territory’s north. “Our teams found 15 martyrs and 10 wounded, mostly children and women, after an Israeli strike on three apartments” northwest of Gaza City, said agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal. Four more were killed in a strike on a house in Beit Lahiya, he added.

Since Israel resumed strikes on March 18, more than 2,600 people — many women and children — have been killed, according to local health officials. The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages. Israel says 59 captives remain in Gaza, though roughly 35 are believed to be dead.

The war has displaced more than 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people and turned large swaths of the enclave into a devastated moonscape. According to Palestinian health officials, over 52,000 people have been killed in Israel’s offensive, though their count does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.

Humanitarian Distribution

Later in the day, Israel’s security cabinet also approved the “possibility of humanitarian distribution” in Gaza, which has been under Israeli blockade for over two months. “The cabinet approved by a large majority the possibility of a humanitarian distribution, if necessary, to prevent Hamas from taking control of the supplies and to destroy its governance capabilities,” the political source told AFP. “During the cabinet discussion, it was mentioned that there is currently enough food in Gaza,” the source added.

The previous ceasefire had been expected to lead to negotiations toward ending the war, but those talks have repeatedly broken down over disagreements about the final outcome. Israel insists the war will continue until Hamas is defeated, while Hamas has demanded a permanent ceasefire as part of any deal.


Yemen’s Houthis blame US for fresh strikes

Updated 05 May 2025
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Yemen’s Houthis blame US for fresh strikes

  • The Houthis, who control swathes of Yemen, have launched missiles and drones targeting Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, saying they act in solidarity with Palestinians

SANAA: Yemen’s Houthis on Monday blamed Washington for around 10 strikes in and around the capital Sanaa, as the United States pursues its campaign against the Iran-backed force.
The Houthi-run Saba news agency said two US strikes had targeted Arbaeen street in the capital, another the airport road, having earlier reported two strikes it blamed on “American aggression” and a series of prior bombardments on Sanaa.
The Houthi administration’s health ministry said 14 people were wounded in the Sawan neighborhood, according to Saba.
An AFP journalist heard loud explosions in the capital, which has been controlled by the Houthis since 2014.
The bombardment follows a Houthi strike against Washington’s ally Israel, which hit the perimeter of the country’s main airport on Sunday.
Eight people were wounded in US strikes on Sanaa in late April, according to the Houthis, who also reported strikes in other parts of the country, including their stronghold Saada in the north.
The Houthis, who control swathes of Yemen, have launched missiles and drones targeting Israel and Red Sea shipping throughout the Gaza war, saying they act in solidarity with Palestinians.
The Houthis had paused their attacks during a recent two-month ceasefire in the Gaza war.
But in March, they threatened to resume attacks on international shipping over Israel’s aid blockade on the Gaza Strip.
The move triggered a response from the US military, which began hammering the Houthis with near-daily air strikes starting March 15 in a bid to keep them from threatening shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
US strikes on the Houthis began under former president Joe Biden, but intensified under his successor Donald Trump.
Since March, the United States says it has struck more than 1,000 targets in Yemen.
 

 


Sultan of Oman reaffirms strong ties during visit to Algeria

Updated 05 May 2025
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Sultan of Oman reaffirms strong ties during visit to Algeria

  • The Omani leader is on a 2-day visit to Algeria
  • Delegation includes foreign, defense ministers

LONDON: Sultan of Oman Haitham bin Tarik met Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Sunday to discuss fraternal ties between their nations.

At the sultan’s residence in the capital, Algiers, the leaders affirmed their commitment to enhancing relations to benefit their countries, the Oman News Agency reported.

The Omani leader is on a two-day visit to Algeria. On Sunday, Tebboune received him at Houari Boumediene International Airport amid an official reception.

Several ministers and officials in the Omani delegation include Sayyid Shihab bin Tariq Al-Said, deputy prime minister for defense affairs, and Sayyid Badr Hamad Al-Busaidi, minister of foreign affairs.