UAE's current $4 billion annual food import bill is expected to grow due to rise in population, according to the minister of environment and water, a report said.

Like other Gulf states, the UAE is investing in farms abroad, especially in Asia and Africa to ensure food supplies to its rising population.

'We are investing in land in Sudan, Pakistan and Egypt to secure food supplies without being at the mercy of market fluctuations,' Dr Rashid Ahmad Bin Fahd, Minister of Environment and Water, said at a conference in Dubai.

'Food import costs will rise in line with population increases,' he was quoted in a Bloomberg report.

The Amsterdam-based organisation, Common Fund for Commodities, noted that the oil-rich Gulf countries, are forced to import all their staple food needs, as they lack water for irrigation and fertile lands. So they are pumping in money in rich farmlands in Asia and Africa to meet their local food needs.
 
The US Census Bureau estimates UAE population to rise to five million by 2010 from 4.6 million this year, as more global companies start operations here.

As long as Gulf countries suffer from limited water resources, food imports will rise. Programs to fund agricultural development are putting unused fields back into production, he added.