AgricultureID

Country agriculture profile · Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan & Pakistan

Saudi Arabia

Agriculture in Saudi Arabia is practised in one of the world’s most water-limited environments — a hyper-arid desert without perennial rivers, where cultivation depends on groundwater, much of it non-renewable, and increasingly on desalination. Date palms grown in oases are the historic core of Saudi farming, complemented by centre-pivot forage and vegetable production and by some of the region’s largest intensive dairy and poultry operations, which rely heavily on imported feed. Camel, sheep, and goat pastoralism continues across the rangelands. Having once pursued irrigated wheat self-sufficiency, the Kingdom has since scaled back water-intensive cereal cultivation to conserve its aquifers and now meets most of its staple-food needs through imports.

Stable overview + dated statisticsUpdated: 2026-07-12

Farming systems (stable overview)

Climate zones

  • Hot desert (hyper-arid)
  • Highland semi-arid (south-western Asir)

Agroecological zones

  • Central desert plains (Najd)
  • Eastern oases (Al-Ahsa)
  • South-western highlands (Asir)
  • Rangeland steppe

Dominant crop systems

  • Date palm cultivation in oases
  • Centre-pivot irrigated forage (alfalfa) and vegetables drawing on groundwater
  • Greenhouse vegetable production
  • Irrigated wheat, reduced from earlier self-sufficiency programmes to conserve water

Major livestock systems

  • Camel, sheep, and goat pastoralism on the rangelands
  • Large intensive dairy operations reliant on imported and irrigated feed
  • Commercial broiler and layer poultry

Irrigation: Cultivation depends on irrigation from groundwater — much of it non-renewable fossil aquifer water — supplemented by desalination, making water availability the overriding constraint on farming.

Latest verified data

Each value is the most recent available observation, shown with its own year and unit. Figures are periodically revised — treat them as dated, sourced statistics, not evergreen facts.

Latest available agricultural indicators, with year and unit
IndicatorValueUnitYear
Agricultural land80.77% of land area2023
Arable land1.6% of land area2023
Cereal yield5,121.7kg per hectare2023
Agriculture value added2.51% of GDP2024
Livestock production index164.71index (2014–2016 = 100)2022
Irrigated agricultural land0.44% of agricultural land2023
Average precipitation59mm per year2022

Source: World Bank Open Data (World Development Indicators) (opens in a new tab) · dataset version 2026-07-01 · retrieved 2026-07-12

Cereal yield over time

201220182023
Saudi Arabia — Cereal yield (kg per hectare). Bars start at zero.
Show data table
Saudi Arabia — Cereal yield in kg per hectare by year
Yearkg per hectare
20125,164.2
20135,359.8
20145,192.8
20155,582.8
20165,440.9
20175,630.9
20185,605.5
20195,295.4
20204,819.4
20214,727.5
20225,002.1
20235,121.7

Source: World Bank Open Data (World Development Indicators) (opens in a new tab) · dataset version 2026-07-01 · retrieved 2026-07-12

Derived indicator

Arable land as a share of agricultural land: 2 % of agricultural land (2023)

Derived value — formula arable-share-of-agricultural-land v1.0.0 (calc v1). Inputs: AG.LND.ARBL.ZS (1.6) ÷ AG.LND.AGRI.ZS (80.8). A derived ratio, not an observed statistic. Sensitive to rounding and to differing revision cycles of the two source series; omit rather than extrapolate when a common year is unavailable.

Documented crops & livestock

Agricultural institutions

  • Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture (MEWA) — National ministry responsible for agriculture, water resources, and the environment.
  • Saudi Grains Organization (SAGO) — State body managing strategic grain reserves, flour milling, and cereal imports.

Data coverage & limitations

Covered by the World Bank WDI snapshots for land, production, yield, economy, inputs, and environment indicators, compiled largely from FAO and national sources.

  • Agricultural statistics are dated, versioned, and periodically revised; always read them together with their observation year and dataset version.
  • National statistical definitions — of agricultural land, irrigated area, holdings, and livestock categories — differ between countries and over time, which limits strict cross-country comparison.
  • Much irrigation draws on non-renewable groundwater, so historical production levels are not necessarily sustainable or repeatable, and policy shifts such as the phase-down of subsidised wheat mean older figures may not reflect current cropping.
  • Heavy reliance on food imports means domestic production statistics substantially understate the country’s total food supply.

Sources

This article draws on the following authoritative sources. See our sources & methodology for how they are selected.

  1. [1]World Bank Open Data — World Development Indicators (opens in a new tab)

    World Bank

    Authoritative

    Cited for: Agricultural statistics (WDI)

    Type:
    Intergovernmental organization
    Jurisdiction:
    Global
    Accessed:
    2026-07-12
  2. [2]FAO — Food and Agriculture Organization (opens in a new tab)

    Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

    Authoritative

    Cited for: Production systems, irrigation, and food-balance context

    Type:
    Intergovernmental organization
    Jurisdiction:
    Global
    Accessed:
    2026-07-12