BEIRUT: Arab food production should be significantly boosted and restrictions should be placed on agricultural imports to the region, a representative from Lebanon’s Industry Ministry said at a conference in Jordan Thursday. “The Arab world would be able to be self-sufficient if it concentrated its efforts on agriculture. This requires many immediate measures,” said George Nasrawi, chief of the food manufacturers union. He lamented that only 11 percent of the Arab world’s 546 million hectares of arable land is being used for harvest, according to most studies. “[We should] enact active laws to protect local production, and place ceilings on food imports with predatory prices,” said Nasrawi.