Food agriculture and economic policy in the Middle East and North Africa This volume brings together a set of studies analyzing different aspects of food and agriculture in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). This sector is of crucial importance to the MENA economies especially in terms of employment. Agriculture is particularly important for the poor both on the consumption side a large part of their budget is allocated to food and as a source of incomes as most of the poor live in rural areas where agriculture dominates. Agriculture production in MENA is severely constrained by water scarcity and low irregular rainfall. Sustainability is a major concern in many parts of the region as the quality of land and water resources is deterioration and scarcity becomes more severe due to growing competition from other parts of the economy. The fact that the region relies on imports for a large share of its food consumption is a major concern for policymakers who view this as a threat to national food security and a source of political vulnerability. The studies included in this volume range from regional overview to micro studies. The chapters with a country focus cover issues that are recurrent in many MENA countries giving them a broader relevance. The analyses cover policy issues in a wide range of areas water drought management agriculture technology producer and consumer subsidies domestic food distribution and foreign trade and discusses how coordinated policies in these and other areas can contribute to more rapid sustainable growth and poverty reduction Food security poverty and economic policy in the Middle East and North Africa Hans Lofgren Alan Richards The political economy and distributional impact of the Egyptian food subsidy system Richard H. Adams Adjustment of wheat production to market reform in Egypt Myl(c)Łene Kherallah Nicholas Minot Peter Gruhn Price policy irreversible investment and the scale of agricultural mechanization in Egypt John Kerr Food security in Tunisia : trends and policy options Mohamed Abdelbasset Chemingui S(c)Øebastien Dessus Micro economic perspectives on Tunisias agro export strategy Jeremy D. Foltz Policy and progress in Moroccan agriculture : a retrospective and perspective Channing Arndt Wallace E. Tyner Yemeni agriculture : historical overview policy lessons and prospects Jeffrey B. Nugent Structural change in agriculture and water requirements in Turkey Serdar Sayan Nazmi Demir Urban food security the rural Hinterland and Istanbuls lower income migrant households Paul J. Kaldjian From citrus to cellphones Agriculture as source of new comparative advantage in the Middle East and North Africa Julia Devlin Politics economics and (virtual) water : A discursive analysis of water policies in the Middle East and North Africa J. Anthony Allan Jennifer C. Olmsted Managing livestock in drought prone areas of the Middle East and North Africa : policy issues Peter Hazell Peter Oram Nabil Chaherli. This volume brings together a set of studies analyzing different aspects of food and agriculture in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). This sector is of crucial importance to the MENA economies especially in terms of employment. Agriculture is particularly important for the poor both on the consumption side a large part of their budget is allocated to food and as a source of incomes as most of the poor live in rural areas where agriculture dominates. Agriculture production in MENA is severely constrained by water scarcity and low irregular rainfall. Sustainability is a major concern in many parts of the region as the quality of land and water resources is deterioration and scarcity becomes more severe due to growing competition from other parts of the economy. The fact that the region relies on imports for a large share of its food consumption is a major concern for policymakers who view this as a threat to national food security and a source of political vulnerability. The studies included in this volume range from regional overview to micro studies. The chapters with a country focus cover issues that are recurrent in many MENA countries giving them a broader relevance. The analyses cover policy issues in a wide range of areas water drought management agriculture technology producer and consumer subsidies domestic food distribution and foreign trade and discusses how coordinated policies in these and other areas can contribute to more rapid sustainable growth and poverty reduction