A Survey of the Situation of Groundwater in Light of the Expansion in the Cultivation of Wheat, Barley and Fodder Crops in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

(Mohammed bin Hamed Al-Ghamdi)

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Abstract

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has witnessed a rapid development in the agricultural sector as a result of the state support and its encouragement of the citizens to invest in this sector, especially when the Agricultural Bank offered more than 28 billion riyals between the time of its establishment and the end of 1995. Also the government provided a lot of aid for the means of production equipment, machinery and agricultural produce which amounted to 50% of the cost in addition to distributing 2.5 million hectares free of charge by 1995. This encouragement has resulted in making the Kingdom self-sufficient in many agricultural products such as wheat, milk and eggs. And as water is the sole support of agricultural development in the Kingdom, this study aims to determine the sources of water in the Kingdom and the prospects of using up the water supply; investigate and analyze the most important factors and programs that led to the increase in the rate of ground water consumption in the Kingdom; estimate the effect of the expansion in the cultivation of the wheat, barley and fodder crops on using up the water supply in the Kingdom; submit appropriate recommendations to agricultural programs, and policy makers in light of the findings of the study to minimize the problem of using up the water supply and to secure the continuity of agricultural development in the Kingdom of the most important recommendations which the study has yielded in discontinuing the government subsidy of wheat and barely, and importing the crop that consume great amount of water. The study also recommends reducing the fodder area and cessation of exporting the fodder crop. In addition, there are other recommendations about the land distribution program, water administration, follow-up of the volume of using up ground water and utilizing rainwater. Finally, holding an annual conference to discuss the water situation in the Kingdom has also been recommended.
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