Evaluating the energy-water-food nexus in Qatar: Balancing crop imports and local production

• The relationship between crop imports and local production strongly impacts the energy water nexus and national food security strategies. • With three import partners, the optimal distributions are 40%, 30%, and 30% when minimizing cost based on 2022 prices. • With more import partners, distribution becomes price-dependent, in- dicating a need for enhanced government coordination. • Optimizing both imports and local production can significantly reduce costs while enhancing food security. • Implementing the recommendations of Qatar National Food Security Strategy leads to cost reductions and a more balanced import strategy. Agriculture accounts for approximately 70% of the global water demand and 30% of the global energy demand. Finding an optimal balance in the provi- sion of food through imports or local production is therefore crucial in secur- ing energy and water sustainability. The literature on this subject has mostly focused on either local production or import strategies, and there is a need to integrate these elements into a unified framework. We address this need by developing a novel mathematical model that performs a nuanced analysis of self-sufficiency rates, price differentials, and import patterns through the integration of economic, environmental, and policy constraints. The ensu- ing analysis offers an evaluation of energy and water sustainability in the light of trade-offs between food imports vs. local production. Considering factors such as the energy required for water pumping in local crop produc- tion and the water footprint in the importing countries, the model elucidates the water and energy demands associated food imports and local production evaluating trade-offs between local production and imports. Results reveal that in scenarios with three import partners, the optimal distributions are consistently 40%, 30%, and 30% when minimizing cost based on 2022 prices. However, with more import partners, distribution becomes price-dependent, indicating a need for enhanced government coordination and a more holistic approach to balancing local production and imports that accounts for energy and water resource constraints.