King Fahd has also been eager to see some moderation in the urbanization of the population and he well understood that development of the agricultural sector would have a positive influence on the population balance, helping to prevent population drift to urban centers. In ensuring that all sections of society benefited from the Kingdom’s prosperity, investment in agriculture was seen as a way of taking the benefits out from the cities to the people rather than drawing the people into the cities away from their homes.

Finally, agricultural development was seen to have a role in maintaining the ecological balance through combating desertification.

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