The story of the Kingdom’s policy towards agriculture under King Fahd is a particularly interesting one because it provides an insight into several aspects of his developmental philosophy. Saudi Arabia, a country consisting largely of desert terrain, with modest natural ground water resources and subject to extremes of temperature, is scarcely ideal for agricultural development. And yet, despite these less than favorable initial circumstances, Saudi Arabia has managed to develop the agricultural sector of the economy over the last three decades to an extraordinary degree.

While industrial diversification may have been an obviously sensible strategy for a revenue-rich, oil-dependent developing country, investment in the agricultural sector, given the inimical climatic conditions, was a less self-evidently justified strategic choice. Nevertheless, the development of agriculture has been given a high priority by the Government throughout the development plans and has played a major role in the national strategy to diversify the economic base. It is King Fahd’s view of the society he wished to build which explains the Government’s sustained commitment to agriculture.

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