Kingdom of Bahrain Portal for Sustainable Development Goals

Goal Two: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

It is time to rethink how we grow, share and consume our food. If done right; agriculture, forestry and fisheries can provide nutritious food for all and generate decent incomes, while supporting people-centred rural development and protecting the environment.

Overview of some indicators

Prevalence of population with food insecurity

1.4

Agriculture orientation index for government expenditures

0.69

Indicators

Target 2.1: By 2030, end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations, including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round
- Indicator 2.1.1: Prevalence of undernourishment
- Indicator 2.1.2: Prevalence of population with moderate or severe food insecurity, based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) (Excel, 0.01MB, 1 Sheet)
Target 2.2: By 2030, end all forms of malnutrition, including achieving, by 2025, the internationally agreed targets on stunting and wasting in children under 5 years of age, and address the nutritional needs of adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women and older persons
Target 2.3: By 2030, double the agricultural productivity and incomes of small-scale food producers, in particular women, indigenous peoples, family farmers, pastoralists and fishers, including through secure and equal access to land, other productive resources and inputs, knowledge, financial services, markets and opportunities for value addition and non-farm employment.
- Indicator 2.3.1: Volume of production per labour unit, by classes of farming/ pastoral/ forestry enterprise size
- Indicator 2.3.2: Average income of small-scale food producers, by sex and indigenous status
Target 2.4: By 2030, ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters and that progressively improve land and soil quality.
- Indicator 2.4.1: Proportion of agricultural area under productive and sustainable agriculture (Excel, 0.09MB, 1 Sheet)
Target 2.5: By 2020, maintain the genetic diversity of seeds, cultivated plants and farmed and domesticated animals and their related wild species, including through soundly managed and diversified seed and plant banks at the national, regional and international levels, and ensure access to and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, as internationally agreed.
- Indicator 2.5.1: Number of plant and animal genetic resources for food and agriculture secured in either medium or long term conservation facilities (Excel, 0.01MB, 1 Sheet)
- Indicator 2.5.2: Proportion of local breeds, classified as being at risk, not-at-risk or unknown level of risk of extinction
Target 2.a: Increase investment, including through enhanced international cooperation, in rural infrastructure, agricultural research and extension services, technology development and plant and livestock gene banks in order to enhance agricultural productive capacity in developing countries, in particular least developed countries.
- Indicator 2.a.1: The Agriculture Orientation Index (AOI) for Government Expenditures (Excel, 0.11MB, 1 Sheet)
- Indicator 2.a.2: Total official flows (official development assistance plus other official flows) to the agriculture sector (Excel, 0.01MB, 1 Sheet)
Target 2.b: Correct and prevent trade restrictions and distortions in world agricultural markets, including through the parallel elimination of all forms of agricultural export subsidies and all export measures with equivalent effect, in accordance with the mandate of the Doha Development Round.
- Indicator 2.b.1: Agricultural export subsidies
Target 2.c: Adopt measures to ensure the proper functioning of food commodity markets and their derivatives and facilitate timely access to market information, including on food reserves, in order to help limit extreme food price volatility.
- Indicator 2.c.1: Food price volatility

Policies & initiatives support the goal

Achieving food security is one of the government’s priorities for the next five years. The Kingdom of Bahrain is working to ensure the sustainability of its food supplies by accelerating the development of the agricultural sector, and increasing local agricultural production,which currently makes up 10% of the total. Several initiatives support the advancement of the agricultural sector and Bahraini farmers. The strategic plan focuses on expanding agriculture without soil in addition to taking advantage of solar energy in agricultural operations and introducing modern irrigation systems that optimize water consumption. The Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs, & Urban Planning is also keen to involve the private sector in fish farming investment because of its significant impact in achieving food security.

The National Initiative for Agricultural Development aims to improve the effectiveness of the agricultural sector in achieving social, environmental and economic prosperity by unifying various agricultural initiatives in the Kingdom and spreading awareness of the importance of agriculture to all other sectors and encourage a sense of public responsibility towards it. The initiative also seeks to revive agricultural markets by involving as many young people as possible and supporting owners of small and medium enterprises, helping them market their products in a way that benefits the public.