Abstract
Purpose Although the livestock sector is considered to be an important segment of the Saudi Arabian economy, its contribution, including the multiple sources of commercial income it provides, is underestimated. This industry provides thousands of jobs in various related sectors and meets national demand for food. This study aims to examine the impact of breeding inputs such as animal production, marketing processes and operation and legislation on livestock sector efficiency and strategic food security. Design/methodology/approach This study adopted an exploratory approach. The sample consisted of specialists in industrial production and livestock breeders in the northern region of Saudi Arabia. The relative importance index was used to analyze the data, which was evaluated using structural equation modeling in SPSS. Findings The results show the significant influence of breeding inputs, markets and legislation on increasing the efficiency of the livestock sector and the impact of livestock on strategic food security. They also highlight the need to motivate governments to focus on this sector, especially by reducing taxes on breeders' income and lowering livestock costs accordingly. The Saudi Arabian Government should also facilitate innovative agreements to create global markets for the export of surplus livestock products. In addition, a marketing process is lacking in all areas of production and the local and international marketing of livestock products, which requires the support of different sources of fodder and establishment of markets for specific types of meat slaughter, packaging and sales. Research limitations/implications This research was limited to the northern region of Saudi Arabia. Practical implications This study highlights the importance of marketing processes and activities according to marketing operations as they used in study instrument to explore their impact on in the marketing livestock sector for national food security strategies and guides future studies in this field. Social implications This research recommends that decision-makers support marketing in the livestock sector and reduce production taxes. Originality/value To the best of the author's knowledge, no previous related research has been conducted in the field of food security.