Those numbers are wrong. KSA is almost completely self-sufficient in terms of agriculture and just in the last 10 years has converted land the size of Belgium into agriculture.
With the technological advance, KSA has the potential to become one of the largest agricultural producers in the world.
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Hospitable land? What does that even mean? All of the GCC Is hospitable. You have million big cities located 2500 meters + above sea level such as Abha, Khamis Mushait, Al-Bahah (some of the highest elavated cities in the world in fact) and many others, and vibrant cities in the middle of the Rub Al-Khali such as Al-Ain in UAE.
Or one of the highest capital cities such as Sana'a (almost 3000 meters above sea level).
And let us be honest, Iran is one of the most arid countries on earth. Most of it, like KSA, is also arid mountains and deserts with little rainfall. Many of your largest cities receive less rainfall than Riyadh (in the middle of Najd and KSA) such as Isfahan, Yazd and many others.
I love our climate BTW. Outside of the coastal areas during the summer months we have zero humidity. Even 40 + Celsius summer days are relatively pain free compared to just 35 + degrees in Southern Europe due to the much greater humidity there. Large temperature differences during the night and day too.
For 7-8 months of the year, KSA, has some of the best weather around. Would not change it for anything.