Nicolas Gholama, Lynn Maaloufa, Lina S. Jabera, and Shady K. Hamadeha
The Environment & Sustainable Development Unit – American University of Beirut

Salwa Tohme Tawkb
Department of Economy and Development, Faculty of Agriculture, Lebanese University

Corresponding author: Email: nmg10@mail.aub.edu

Food is one of the most volatile commodities in the Arab region, where climate change and socio-economic conditions constitute a constant threat to people’s food security. Food security, as defined by FAO in 1996, relies on four basic pillars: food availability, access, utilization, and stability. With this in mind, the Onsi Sawiris School of Business' Access to Knowledge for Development Center (A2K4D) at the American University in Cairo is leading a regional research project in partnership with Birzeit University in Palestine titled, "Governing Responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data in the MENA Region", with the support of Canada's International Development Research Centre. Understandably, food security is one of the main topics that was investigated under this project to assess the use and governance of AI in different Arab countries.

Lebanon is one of the smallest Arab countries; however, it hosts the largest number of refugees per capita. In addition to the rising resident population number, food security in Lebanon is challenged by major socio-economic and security crises, including the quasi-collapse of the local currency and the major explosion of the Beirut port that devastated the country’s food trade and cereal storage capacity. 

Nevertheless, Lebanon enjoys a well-educated and entrepreneurial human capital that is always looking for solutions to existing problems. In this project, the partner team from the American University of Beirut investigated the use of AI and IT technologies as related to food security in Lebanon based on extensive desk research and individual interviews and focus group discussions with key players in this field.

The findings of their work revealed important challenges as well as opportunities in the use of AI, which are summarized in the table below:

Mapped across the pillars of food security, the situation in Lebanon indicates a promising role for AI/IT in food accessibility. In fact, the research indicated a clear potential impact on the four pillars of food security as outlined below:

• Food Availability: Precision or “smart” farming can help in optimizing the use of water, pesticides, fertilizers, etc, while ensuring high yield of good quality products. However, such applications are currently restricted to large producers who have the financial means to use them. Similarly, big data applications for generating prediction models remain limited, leading to occasional shortages and/or oversupply, greatly impacting local food prices.
  
  
• Food Access: AI is able to improve the traceability of food supply chains from farm to fork through adapted IT all the while ensuring food safety and quality along the process. The current Lebanese context seems ripe with opportunities in this domain, including a booming online food market and delivery sector. However, it remains largely limited to urban centers, which have better access to technological and financial resources, including options for online payments. On the other hand, farmers and rural retailers struggle to use such approaches to improve their direct sales to a wider customer range.
  
  
• Food utilization: Safety and nutritional quality are important factors in food utilization. AI can develop new food products and services that are more nutritious, affordable, and sustainable. Although steps were taken at the national level to improve food safety monitoring in Lebanon, this issue remains largely controlled by the personal initiatives of the food processors and food producers themselves, depending on their resources. The lack of rigorous food quality standards has a double impact on food security - the prevalence of food of questionable quality in the Lebanese market, as well as the difficulty in exporting Lebanese produce.
  
  
• Food stability and Sustainability (i.e. ensure the availability of food at all times): AI applications in this domain range from R&D generated technologies that respond to the local context to global-scale models capable of making reliable predictions. Lebanon has the opportunity to advance in this area based on its available academic and professional expertise. However, linkage with multiple stakeholders is needed to ensure that solutions are customized to the local context and to provide the needed funding for such activities. 

Finally, the study concluded with a set of recommendations that are proposed in order to support the adoption and use of AI/It at the service of Food security in Lebanon, summarized below: