The Gulf countries, some of which are quite specialised, import a high proportion of the food their inhabitants eat. For example, the United Arab Emirates imports 83% of all the food that it consumes. The Gulf countries are trying to reduce their reliance on imports of food.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (Oct/Nov 2017). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [2] (a) The concentration/focus (1) on one task/product / what they are best at (1).
2. [4] (b) 1 mark each for each of two disadvantages identified: risk may not find another job easily; not finding where key strengths lie; limited skills; boredom; demotivation; increased risk of being replaced by machines; disruption caused by absent fellow workers. 1 mark each for each of two explanations of the disadvantages: workers may not find it easy to transfer their skills to another job should they lose their jobs / risk of long term unemployment; concentrating on a particular task may mean that workers do not find out what they are best at; performing the same task each day can become tedious; breaking down a process into its separate parts may make it easier to mechanise; workers may feel less appreciated; may have to cover for absent colleagues / example of impact on the workers.
3. [6] (c) Replacing imports with domestic products (1) by producing more domestic products / reducing price of domestic products / raising quality of domestic products (1); It could subsidise domestic producers (1) help infant industries to grow (1) replacing imports with domestic products (1); It could place trade restrictions on imports (1) example: e.g. tariffs (1) reason why restriction could reduce imports e.g. tariff could make imports more expensive (1); It could keep its exchange rate low (1) e.g. by buying the currency (1) keeping import prices high (1); It could use supply-side policy (1) e.g. increase spending on education (1) to improve the quality of output (1) reduce costs of production (1) make domestic products more competitive (1).
4. [8] (d) Up to 5 marks for why it might: Producing more food may lower the price of food (1) due to economies of scale (1) making it more affordable (1) increasing the availability/quality of food people can consume (1) reducing poverty (1) increasing life expectancy (1). Providing more food may create jobs (1) increase exports / reduce imports (1) increasing output / GDP (1) increasing incomes / GDP per head (1) allowing people to buy more goods and services (1). Up to 5 marks for why it might not: May lead to over-consumption of food (1) obesity (1) healthcare problems caused (1). Intensive farming methods may create external costs (1) e.g. river pollution arising from fertilisers spread on the land (1). Agricultural jobs may be low skilled (1) low paid (1). Those producing more food may lack the appropriate resources to produce it (1) and as a result may produce low quality food (1) high priced food (1). Increased food production may lead to an over-supply of food (1) with the extra output remaining unsold (1) may cause diseconomies of scale (1). There may be an opportunity cost involved (1) relevant example (1) fewer capital goods may be produced (1) which could lower potential economic growth (1) and so living standards in the future (1). Crops may be destroyed / damaged (1) by climate conditions / disease (1).