Increasing the Resilience of the Food Systems
In Islamic States in Face of Future Food Crises
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Executive Summary
The 57 member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) have substantial
potential to become a major collective economic force on the world stage. They represent 24%
of the global population 1 and 15% of global GDP on PPP terms,2 with total OIC GDP projected to
grow faster than global GDP at a cumulative annual growth rate of 6.2% CAGR by 2023,
compared to projected global growth of 5.8%.3
The OIC has substantial natural advantages that can drive economic prosperity. It possesses
65% of global reserves of crude oil and 58% of the global proven natural gas reserves.4 Many of
the OIC countries rank among the top 20 producers of major agricultural products—notably,
they produce 80% and 75% of the world’s jute and palm oil, respectively.5 The OIC also has a
sizeable young demographic that drives economic activity and socioeconomic development.
The OIC, however, is not uniform across its membership in the level of economic prosperity
attained todate. While certain OIC countries have attained a commendable level of prosperity—
particularly Saudi Arabia and Turkey, which are both within the top 25 global economies6 —19
OIC member states are still classified by the World Bankas Least Developed Economies, where
Gross National Income per capita is less than $1,025.7
Sustainable food systems are at the heart of economic prosperity. A food system includes all
participants and the interconnected, value-adding activities involved in producing,
aggregating, processing, distributing, consuming, and disposing of food products. A
sustainable food system is defined as “a food system that delivers food security and nutrition
for all in such away that the economic, social and environmental bases togenerate food security
and nutrition for future generations are not compromised.”8
Developing sustainable food systems is a top priority across the OIC and is fundamentally tied
to the future economic prosperity of its member states. There is an immediate need among the
least developed members of the OIC to address acute hunger, with acute food crises affecting
64.79 million people in OIC member countries in 2018. All OIC member states, however, face
potential environmental and political risks that might adversely affect food system
sustainability in the future.
In a global context, developing sustainable food systems has become a top priority for many
countries, with significant emphasis among regional andmultilateral cooperation bodies. A lack
of such sustainability to this point has led to food crises, whereby households are unable tomeet
their basic dietary requirements for extended periods of time. According to UN FAO estimates,
1 WorldData. (n.d.). Member states of the OIC. Retrieved fro
2 Thomas Reuters and DinarStandard. (2016). Retrieved from
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3 World Bank.
4 OIC-StatCom. Retrieved fro
5 OIC-StatCom. Retrieved fro
6 Projected GDP Ranking (2019-2023). Retrieved fro
7 UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (n.d.) Inclusion in the LDC category. Retrieved from
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8 FAO. (2018). Sustainable food systems: Conceptand framework.
9 Food Security Information Network. (2019, April). Global Report on Food Crises2019. Retrieved from ..