EP.10 – The Global High Tea Series | India-GCC Cooperation for Strategic Food Security: Food Corridors, AgTech Integration, and Climate-Resilient Agriculture

Introduction

Food security is increasingly becoming a strategic concern, shaped by climate change, water scarcity, geopolitical disruptions, supply-chain vulnerabilities, and the growing demand for sustainable food production. For the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries such as Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, dependence on imported food, limited arable land, and scarce freshwater resources make reliable food supply chains an important pillar of national resilience. Concurrently, total bilateral trade between India and the GCC has scaled to over USD 178 billion, representing more than 15% of India’s total global trade, which elevates food security from a standard commercial trade portfolio into an active national security priority.

India possesses a substantial agricultural production base, a diverse agri-food ecosystem, a growing agricultural technology sector, and experience in climate adaptation, irrigation management, agricultural research, and digital agriculture. Its longstanding food trade with the Gulf provides a foundation for moving beyond conventional buyer–seller relationships towards deeper technological, commercial, and research partnerships. This transformation is legally and structurally fortified by modern regional pacts, including the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), the newly executed India-Oman CEPA, and the unified agricultural standards codified under the GCC Joint Action Plan (2024–2028).

This alignment creates an opportunity to rethink India–GCC agricultural cooperation through the concept of strategic food security corridors: integrated networks connecting agricultural production, research and development, advanced farming technologies, food processing, logistics, storage, and distribution. Such corridors effectively combine India’s agricultural capabilities with GCC investment, infrastructure, and demand for resilient food systems. A primary driver of this integration is the minilateral I2U2 Group framework, under which the UAE has committed USD 2 billion to finance and construct a multi-site network of climate-smart, integrated food parks across India. These hubs are engineered to blend Indian smallholder yields with advanced processing infrastructure and clean energy to virtually eliminate post-harvest losses.

This strategic corridor shifts the bilateral dynamic away from volatile spot-purchasing towards long-term programmatic off-take agreements and cross-border equity alignments. This transition is evident in major investments by the Saudi Agricultural & Livestock Investment Company (SALIC), a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which has secured long-term export supply chains by taking institutional equity stakes in India’s leading agrifood giants, such as a 9.2% stake in LT Foods Limited. Furthermore, the corridor functions as a reciprocal loop ensuring agricultural input security; while India guarantees food exports, GCC state enterprises like Saudi Arabia’s Ma’aden secure India’s foundational crop yields through landmark supply pacts guaranteeing the delivery of 3.1 million metric tonnes of Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) fertilizer annually to Indian farming cooperatives.

To bypass bureaucratic friction and streamline trade clearance pipelines, sub-national clusters and specialized transport hubs have been activated. The Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI) has partnered directly with the Abu Dhabi Food Hub and KEZAD to establish dedicated, export-oriented food logistics zones that utilize single-window phytosanitary clearances and automated trace platforms, such as the Agriota Marketplace developed by DMCC, to link Indian farm gates directly to Gulf ports.

The next phase of cooperation focuses on solving the critical Water-Energy-Food Nexus through distinct agritech verticals including precision and drip irrigation, automated subsurface water systems, protected greenhouse architectures, and vertical farming designed to withstand extreme arid climates. Deep institutional collaboration will also center on agricultural biotechnology, the engineering of climate-resilient crop varieties, desert soil management, and the deployment of specialized bio-stimulants capable of thriving in highly saline environments. By leveraging AI-enabled farming, machine learning yield-forecasting models, smart blockchain-backed cold chains, and automated supply systems, this corridor supports hyper-efficient resource management while opening unparalleled avenues for Indian agritech enterprises, research institutions, and agri-businesses to scale directly into Gulf markets.

Key Takeaways

1. Food Security Has Evolved Beyond Food Availability: Food security is no longer determined solely by the availability and accessibility of food. Rapid climate change, geopolitical disruptions and changing global conditions have made production, storage, transportation and distribution equally important. The ability to anticipate and adapt to these changes is becoming central to ensuring food security.
2. India and the GCC Have Complementary Agricultural Strengths: India’s diverse agro-climatic conditions, agricultural production capabilities and large agricultural workforce complement the GCC countries’ geographical and climatic constraints, including arid conditions, water scarcity and limited agricultural labour. India’s strengths in producing fruits, vegetables, tea and other agricultural commodities create considerable scope for strengthening food supply partnerships with the Gulf.
3. Cooperation Must Move Beyond Buyer–Seller Relationships: Existing agricultural cooperation, largely governed by international trade arrangements and bilateral MoUs, needs to evolve into sustainable agri-food partnerships. Climate extremes, geopolitical uncertainty and price volatility require India and the GCC to develop integrated value chains that ensure continuity of supply while addressing the food security requirements of both regions.
4. Domestic Food Security Must Remain a Priority: India’s large population and domestic consumption requirements make it essential to balance agricultural exports with domestic food availability and price stability. Identifying surplus production, processing excess commodities, promoting value addition and exporting to GCC markets can strengthen trade without compromising domestic supply. Mapping commodities, seasonal production patterns and environmental conditions can help identify mutually beneficial trade opportunities.
5. Strategic Food Corridors Require Integrated Supply Chain Infrastructure: Developing reliable India–GCC food corridors requires coordination across production, processing, storage, transportation and distribution. Strategic storage facilities and buffer stocks are particularly important to manage climate-related production shocks and geopolitical disruptions to transport routes. Maintaining product quality and shelf life, particularly for perishable commodities such as bananas and guavas, is essential to ensuring timely delivery to GCC markets.
6. Climate-Resilient and Nutritionally Superior Agriculture Can Strengthen Exports: India should focus on developing and supplying climate-resilient crop varieties with higher nutritional value and quality suited to GCC consumer requirements. Detailed mapping of climatic conditions, crop varieties, production cycles and market demand can help identify commodities that India can reliably supply throughout the year.
7. Agri-Tech Can Improve Productivity and Supply Chain Reliability: Precision irrigation, fertigation, remote sensing, geospatial technologies and mobile-based applications can improve agricultural productivity and resource efficiency. AI-enabled crop monitoring and yield forecasting can help farmers and exporters assess crop conditions, estimate production, identify potential damage and plan harvesting in line with GCC market requirements. Technology adoption must be aligned with consumer demand, affordability and international quality standards.
8. Gulf Investments Can Strengthen India’s Agricultural Production Systems: GCC investments should extend beyond agricultural procurement towards production infrastructure, contract farming, processing, storage and post-harvest technologies in India. Investments in water-efficient agriculture, fertiliser management, organic farming systems and quality certification can help develop production systems that meet international market requirements. Such partnerships should be supported by mutual trust and commercially viable arrangements.
9. Research and Institutional Collaboration Must Bridge the Implementation Gap: Cooperation between Indian and GCC research institutions should move beyond scientific innovation towards technology validation, dissemination and practical implementation. While Indian agricultural research has traditionally focused on domestic climatic and production conditions, greater attention is required to understand GCC consumer preferences and validate technologies for Gulf market requirements. Institutions such as ICAR can support research on crop varieties, storage, shelf life, transportation and post-harvest management.
10. A Structured India–GCC Partnership Is Needed for Long-Term Agricultural Resilience: A high-level India–GCC platform, supported by political leadership, the Ministry of External Affairs, relevant government agencies and research institutions, could facilitate joint research programmes, farmer exchanges, capacity building and technology transfer. Public–private partnerships can bring together research organisations, producers, investors and logistics providers to strengthen agricultural value chains. Such institutional mechanisms can help translate complementary strengths into a reliable and sustainable regional food security framework.

Speaker

Dr A. Velmurugan

Assistant Director General (Soil & Water Management)

Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi

Dr. A. Velmurugan is a distinguished agricultural scientist and the current Assistant Director General (Soil & Water Management) at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi. With over 25 years of professional experience, he specializes in soil and water resource management, organic and natural farming, soil fertility, and climate change adaptation. An alumnus of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (B.Sc.) and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (M.Sc., Ph.D.), Dr. Velmurugan has served as a key expert on multiple national inter-ministerial committees and has collaborated internationally with organizations like the FAO, IWMI, and Ohio State University. Over his prolific career, he has published more than 100 scientific papers with over 1,800 citations, guided numerous master’s and doctoral students, and earned prestigious accolades, including the Rajendra Prasad National Award and the Fakruddin Ali Ahmed National Award for outstanding research.

Moderator

Mr Gazi Hassan

Research Scholar, International Relations

Centre for Public Policy Research

Gazi Hassan is a Research Scholar of International Politics. He has an MPhil in International Studies from MMAJ Academy of International Studies in Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi. Was previously associated as a Senior Research Associate with CPPR- Centre for Strategic Studies. Mr. Hassan’s research focuses on the Indo-Pacific, particularly exploring geopolitical dynamics, developments related to trade, terrorism, the role of various actors and including the security dynamics of the region. He has also worked as a researcher at the Vivekananda International Foundation, New Delhi and has been contributing articles to SADF (Brussels) and various online platforms like Foreign Policy News (US), The Quint (New Delhi), among many others.

Watch Now