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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Kuwait
Index
Agriculture has also seen minimal development. Kuwait's
desert climate sustains little vegetation. Kuwait has no
rivers,
only a few wadis that fill with winter and spring rain.
Scant
rainfall, little irrigation water, and poor soils have
always
limited farming in Kuwait. Before the discovery of oil,
several
occupations contributed to the economy--nomads moving
livestock
to the sparse forage in the desert, pearling, and
fishing--but
none of these occupations provided much beyond
subsistence. Once
the government began receiving oil revenues, the
contribution of
other sectors to national income was reduced still further
(see
table 7, Appendix). Economic growth and welfare measures
since
World War II drew workers away from historical pursuits
and
lessened the role of agriculture. In the late 1980s, fewer
than
10,000 people were employed in agriculture. The government
invested some money in developing hydroponics to increase
vegetable production. Kuwait's most important crops in
1989 were
tomatoes (40,000 tons), dried onions (25,000 tons), melons
(7,000
tons), dates (1,000 tons), and smaller amounts of
cucumbers and
eggplants. Some of these crops are grown hydroponically.
Although
Kuwait manages to export some vegetables, its agricultural
potential remains limited.
Fishing provides a minor but important economic
contribution.
Much of the fishing for the local market was historically
from
small boats, including many native dhows. Large-scale
commercial
fishing is mostly confined to the United Fisheries of
Kuwait,
which operates a fleet of vessels as far afield as the
Indian
Ocean, the Red Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean. United
Fisheries is a
large, international firm that processes and exports part
of its
catch, particularly frozen shrimp. However, in the 1970s
overfishing in the gulf by many states considerably
reduced
catches of fish and shrimp. In 1989 Kuwait had a catch of
approximately 4,700 tons of fish and 3,000 tons of shrimp
and
prawns. In the late 1980s, war and environmental damage,
including oil spills, also reduced the attractiveness of
the gulf
fishing industry.
Data as of January 1993
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