Although global food production exceeds food demand, many world regions face a growing food deficit, including the Arab region where internal food production covers less than 50 per cent of the region’s food needs.The food gap in the Arab region has grown over the years from less than $20 billion in the early 2000s to more than $75 billion today, with cereal import dependency at nearly 65 per cent (FAOSTAT, 2023). This is a cause for concern, especially in light of the successive crises within the region and at the global level, including the 2008 food price hike or the more recent COVID-19 pandemic and the food crisis caused by the war around the Black Sea region.Arab countries are looking for ways to enhance food production to improve self￾sufficiency and reduce rural poverty. Most efforts, however, are geared towards irrigated agriculture, though productivity in existing irrigated systems is reaching a plateau, with further expansion expected to be onerous. Options for expanding irrigated agriculture exist in certain countries that have sufficient land and water resources, but these countries lack adequate financial resources