Saudi Arabia Agriculture

Contents extracted from the comprehensive atlas of international trade by Export Entreprises

The kingdom aims at grains self-sufficiency. Wheat self-sufficiency has been reached since 1984. The Saudi agriculture lives thanks to subsidies. Indeed, considering the climatic and technical difficulties, each ton of wheat costs 300 dollars of subsidies. Concerning the irrigation problem, thanks to Saudi researchers actions, the technique of the central pivot has allowed to save 400 m3 of water by hectare.

Farmland surface area:

The areas under cultivation include arable lands and those with permanent crops. They represent 133,831,000 hectares in Saudi Arabia.

Number of farms:

Crops

Crop	Yield (in Metric Tons)	Surface (in hectares)	Yield Hg/ Ha*
Wheat	1,800,000	336	53,571
Dates	650	110	59,091
Watermelons	500	28	178,571
Tomatoes	480	30	160
Barley	400	57	70,175

Livestock

Species	Headcount
Ovine races	8,300,000
Goats	4,700,000
Camels	428
Cattle	265
Horses, Donkeys and Mules	103

Number of tractors:

9,5

Irrigated land (surface area):

1,620 hectares.

Fishing yield in metric tons:

Shellfish, mollusks and cephalopods	Saltwater fish
9,829 Tm.	40,326 Tm.

Aquacultural yield in metric tons:

50,782 Tm.