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The Middle East, once plagued by aridity and heavy reliance on vegetable imports, has now become a new blue ocean for agricultural investment thanks to the popularization of greenhouse planting technology. The investment return rate (ROI) here generally reaches 15%-20%, and high-value-added projects can even exceed 18%.
As one of the world's largest agricultural product import regions, Saudi Arabia once relied on imports for 85% of its vegetables, and the figure for the UAE was as high as 90%, leaving a huge gap for local cultivation. To ensure food security, countries in the region offer generous policy incentives: Saudi Arabia's "Vision 2030" has invested 5 billion US dollars in agriculture, providing low-interest loans with an annual interest rate of 2%, covering 50% of construction costs and 30% of operating expenses in the first three years; the UAE and Kuwait also provide support such as tax reductions.
Traditional film greenhouses: Investment of 20-50 US dollars per square meter, with cost recovery in 2-4 years. Suitable for small and medium investors, accounting for over 60% of greenhouses in Saudi Arabia, with an annual profit rate of 15%-25%.
Glass smart greenhouses: Investment of 150-300 US dollars per square meter, with cost recovery in 5-8 years. However, their output is 8-12 times that of open-field cultivation. Saudi Arabia's NEOM project uses them to achieve an annual output of 2,000 tons of vegetables.
Vertical farms: Investment of 500-800 US dollars per square meter. Although the cost recovery is slow (8-12 years), they have excellent water-saving effects, and Kuwait's projects have achieved an annual return rate of over 15%.
The Middle East's solar energy and seawater desalination resources can also help greenhouses reduce electricity costs by 40% and water costs by 90%, further boosting returns.
Saudi Arabia: A glass greenhouse tomato project increased its annual return rate from 14.2% to 22% with government subsidies. UAE: Cucumbers grown in seawater desalination greenhouses are sold to high-end hotels at 4.2 US dollars per kilogram, with an annual return of 18.6%. Kuwait: Vertical farms have obtained government endorsement, with an annual return of over 15%, and related agricultural stocks have risen significantly.
Investors need to pay attention to risks such as CO₂ cost fluctuations and technology dependence. The solutions are simple: give priority to government-supported projects to leverage policy dividends; cooperate with local enterprises to lock in energy costs and develop local vegetable varieties; avoid low-price competition, focus on high-end hotels and organic markets, and even export to neighboring countries to earn premiums.
Greenhouse cultivation in the Middle East is a model of technology breaking natural limitations and policies activating market demand. Choosing the right technology, leveraging policies well, and identifying the right market will allow investors to unearth an "agricultural gold mine" in the desert.
