Promoting Agricultural Value Chains
In the OIC Member Countries
35
3. Agricultural value chains in OIC Member Countries
3.1 The importance of agriculture in the OIC
In 2013, the OIC Member Countries had a total population of just over 1.7 billion people, of
which 51 percent resided in rural areas and the remaining 49 percent in urban areas. This
ranges from countries with 83 percent of rural population (Uganda) to countries with only 1
percent or less (Kuwait and Qatar) (see . Due to increasing urbanisation the
average share of rural population tends to decrease, but the rural economy in the form of
agriculture still plays an important role in the OIC.
Figure 3-1 Percentage of rural population in OIC Member Countries, 2013
Source: FAOSTAT, 2015
OIC Member Countries cover 36 percent of the total world agricultural area1 and contributed
28 percent to the world’s agricultural GDP in 2013 (see , totalling US$ 635 billion.
In light of this significance, agriculture constitutes one of the six cooperation areas of COMCEC,
which set itself the strategic objective of “increasing the productivity of agriculture sector and
sustaining the food security in the OIC Member Countries”. COMCEC’s strategy in the field of
agriculture defines increasing productivity, regulatory framework and institutional capacity,
1 Arable land and permanent crop land
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Uganda
NigerChad
Afghanistan
TajikistanComoros
Guyana
Burkina Faso
Sudan
BangladeshMozambique
Yemen
Kyrgyz Republic
Uzbekistan
Guinea
Mali
PakistanSomalia
Togo
Sierra Leone
Mauritania
Senegal
Egypt
Maldives
Guinea-Bissau
Benin
Turkmenistan
Nigeria
Kazakhstan
Indonesia
Cote d'Ivoire
CameroonAzerbaijan
Albania
Syria
MoroccoGambia
Iraq
Tunisia
Iran
Suriname
Oman
Turkey
Malaysia
Algeria
Brunei Darussalam
Djibouti
Libya
Saudi Arabia
Jordan
United Arab Emirates
Gabon
LebanonBahrainKuwait
Qatar
African Group Arab Group Asian Group