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Bahrain Bahrain -- The Economy
Agriculture and Fishing
Despite the scant rainfall and poor soil, agriculture
historically was an important sector of the economy.
Before the
development of the oil industry, date palm cultivation
dominated
Bahrain's agriculture, producing sufficient dates for both
domestic consumption and export. At least twenty-three
varieties
of dates are grown, and the leaves, branches, buds, and
flowers
of the date palm also are used extensively. From the 1950s
through the 1970s, changing food consumption habits, as
well as
the increasing salinity of the aquifers that served as
irrigation
sources, led to a gradual decline in date cultivation. By
the
1980s, a significant number of palm groves had been
replaced by
new kinds of agricultural activities, including vegetable
gardens, nurseries for trees and flowers, poultry
production, and
dairy farms.
By 1993 Bahrain's cultivated area had been reduced from
6,000
hectares before independence to 1,500 hectares. The
cultivated
land consists of about 10,000 plots ranging in size from a
few
square meters to four hectares. These plots are
distributed among
approximately 800 owners. A minority of large owners,
including
individuals and institutions, are absentee landlords who
control
about 60 percent of all cultivable land. The ruling Al
Khalifa
own the greatest number of plots, including the largest
and most
productive ones, although public information pertaining to
the
distribution of ownership among family members is not
available.
Absentee owners rent their plots to farmers, generally on
the
basis of three-year contracts. There are approximately
2,400
farmers, 70 percent of whom do not own the land they
cultivate.
The small size of most plots and the maldistribution of
ownership has tended to discourage private investment in
agriculture. In addition, the number of skilled
farmworkers
progressively declined after 1975 because an increasing
number of
villagers obtained high-paying, nonagricultural jobs.
Despite
these impediments, official government policy since 1980
has
aimed at expanding domestic production of crops through
such
programs as free distribution of seeds, technical
assistance in
adopting new and more efficient irrigation technologies,
and lowinterest credit. Although these programs have contributed
to
significant increases in the production of eggs, milk, and
vegetables, the circumscribed extent of Bahrain's
cultivable area
limits the island's potential productive capacity.
Consequently,
agricultural imports remain a permanent aspect of the
country's
international trade. In 1993 the main food imports
included
fruits, vegetables, meat, live animals (for slaughter),
cereals,
and dairy products.
The waters surrounding Bahrain traditionally have been
rich
in more than 200 varieties of fish, many of which
constitute a
staple of the diet. Before the development of the oil
industry,
most males engaged in some form of fishing. In addition,
the
pearl industry constituted one of the most important bases
of the
island's wealth, and more than 2,000 pearling boats
operated
during the late 1920s. After 1935 both fishing and
pearling as
occupations steadily declined. Although the prospect of
steady
wages attracted many pearl divers to oil-related jobs,
pearling
was even more adversely affected by the development in
Japan of
the cultured pearl. By 1953 only twelve pearling boats
remained,
and these all disappeared within a decade. Fishing
declined more
gradually, but by the early 1970s fewer than 1,000
fishermen
continued to ply their trade. Fewer fishermen meant less
fish
available in the market despite rising consumer demand,
and this
situation led to the annual importation of tons of fish to
supplement the local catch. In 1981 the government
launched a
program to revitalize the fishing industry by introducing
trawlers, motorizing the traditional dhows, expanding
jetties,
constructing cold storage facilities, and offering
training
courses on the use and maintenance of modern fishing
equipment.
These initiatives contributed to an increase in the total
fish
catch, which according to estimates of the Food and
Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations, was 9,200 tons in
1989.
Pollution in the Persian Gulf became a problem in the
1970s.
Shrimp in the northern gulf seemed particularly sensitive
to
marine pollution, and by 1979 they had almost disappeared
from
waters near Bahrain. Pollution was seriously aggravated in
1983
and again in 1991 by major oil slicks that emanated from
wardamaged oil facilities and covered several thousand square
kilometers of water in the northern Persian Gulf. The
slicks were
detrimental to the unique marine life in the vicinity of
Bahrain,
including coral reefs, sea turtles, dugongs (herbivorous
sea
mammals similar to manatees), oyster beds and shrimp beds,
numerous fish species, and water fowl. The oil slicks,
especially
those of 1991, adversely affected the fishing industry,
but as of
early 1993, marine biologists remained uncertain about the
longterm ecological impact of the pollution.
Data as of January 1993
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