Challenges in the MENA Region
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region faces significant structural challenges in ensuring food security. Years of political instability, migration flows, a volatile economic environment, scarcity and degradation of resources such as land, water, and agrobiodiversity, combined with the impacts of climate change and high demographic pressure, make food provision extremely difficult.
The region relies heavily on food imports, with many countries importing over 50% of the calories they consume. This makes them vulnerable to international price increases, causing inflation, trade deficits, and instability.
Young people, and particularly young women, play a crucial role in the region. They often face greater limitations in accessing essential resources, technology, and services, highlighting the importance of improving access to high-quality education and training.
Italian Excellence and the Food & Wellness Valley
Italy is internationally recognised for its excellence in the agri-food sector, thanks to its biodiversity and its ability to transform agricultural products into foods with high nutritional and economic value. In particular, the Emilia-Romagna region is an integrated “From Farm to Fork” model, with a world-class food safety and phytosanitary system (home to EFSA and major trade fairs such as Sigep and Cibus).
This area, known as the Food and Wellness Valley, boasts a strong and diverse industrial ecosystem, leading in agricultural machinery, food processing, cold chain technologies, logistics, and packaging. The region’s established excellence in education and research, strengthened through collaboration with businesses and local communities, has led to the creation of the Emilia-Romagna International Network for Education and Industrial Research on Food and Beverage (FOOD-ER), of which the FOCUSER partners are members.
