- Saudi Arabia must import the overwhelming share of its food, and because of the withering heat, nutritious fruits and vegetables can spoil quickly. Now, companies like Pure Harvest and Uvera seek to source more food locally.
When it comes to the essentials needed to sustain human life on Earth, access to food ranks at the very top, alongside water. Neither are in large supply in the arid climes of Saudi Arabia, home to the world’s largest continuous sand desert.
Arable land is scarce, and nearly nine in 10 Saudis live clustered in the kingdom’s urban centers such as Riyadh, Jeddah, and Mecca. Most provisions must be imported and consumed quickly before they spoil in the searing heat.
“Food security, especially in this region, has always been a very strategic issue,” said Serene Farah, vice president for growth and strategy at Pure Harvest. “We really need to think of climate adaptive technologies that allow us to work with what we have—so to reimagine the way we grow food.”
She represents one of a growing number of women finding innovative ways for people living in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait to eat fresher, more nutritious food with a lower carbon footprint.
“UAE and KSA basically are some of the harshest climates to grow fresh produce in, and what we can make work here at an economic level can work anywhere. So it’s almost like a test bed [for other ultra-scarce regions],” Farah told participants at the Fortune Most Powerful Women International Summit in Riyadh on Tuesday.
Her company, Pure Harvest, specializes in hydroponic farms, which grow fruits and vegetables in a controlled environment using nutrient-rich solutions rather than conventional topsoil. Temperature, humidity, and light levels are all engineered to deliver optimal results with consistent quality day after day.
“At Pure Harvest, we can grow anywhere at any time of the year. We produce really high-quality tomatoes, blackberries, strawberries, leafy greens in the middle of the desert in Saudi,” Farah said. “What’s harvested at night can be found in the store the next morning.”
Using ultraviolet light to sterilize produce
Another entrepreneur working to secure the country’s food supply is Asrar Damdam, founder and CEO of Uvera.
Her company, as the name suggests, preserves the shelf life of fruits and vegetables by exposing food to a controlled dose of UV-C light that sterilizes the surface from bacteria before vacuum-sealing food in an oxygen-free environment.
Using IoT-based traceability, her company can track delivery to ensure as little goes bad as possible en route to its destination.
“Because of the harsh weather, we have a huge amount of food spoilage, especially in fresh produce,” Damdam told participants at the Riyadh summit.
One person impressed with the kingdom’s results is Ellie Rubenstein, cofounder of Manna Tree Partners, an investment fund that focuses on sustainable, healthy food.
She cited the accomplishments of SALIC, a small but strategic subsidiary of the $925 billion sovereign Public Investment Fund. It has helped reduce food imports to 83% from 95% previously in about seven years’ time.
“I’ve never seen somebody move that food statistic that fast,” said Rubenstein, who herself knows what that means, having grown up in the equally inhospitable conditions of Alaska.
“What I respect more about it that I haven’t seen in other places that tend to suffer from food insecurity is … they are using the power of dollars to invest, but then they take that knowledge and bring it home.”