UAE, A pioneer in agricultural innovation?

UAE utilizes modern agricultural technology – or ‘AgTech’ – that is powered by research and development to find solutions to climate and environmental challenges of the current food systems says Mariam Almheiri, Minister for Climate Change and Environment, UAE.

The pandemic has made the world face many unprecedented challenges which include inflation in the economy and major problems with the global supply chain. The immediate attention of the world shifted toward health care and recovery from the economic aftermath of the pandemic.

In addition to this, the rising threat of climate change, Global conflicts, and other sociopolitical reasons affect global food prices making them achieve a historically high price. Countries like India might not be the first to witness the imminent food crisis, whereas the Middle east appears to be the major victim of the food crisis. But did you know less than 1% of land in UAE is fit for cultivation? So, how did they manage such a humungous task of feeding 10 million people? Modern technology, perhaps. Let’s take a look, shall we?

DEPENDENCY ON GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN

The Gulf countries like Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia may look like wealthy and developed countries with abundant food supplies. Thus, at a first glance, nothing could catch your eye but they are extremely dependent on the international market to meet their demands. This is because of the poor agricultural conditions and environmental conditions. This vulnerability of theirs only did come to notice during the 2008 global food crisis. The so-called “Onion Crisis” started to spread from Kuwait to Saudi Arabia as they totally disappeared from the grocery stores. Eventually urging the leaders to take countermeasures and new policies regarding the crisis. A major wake-up call indeed.  

PROACTIVE MEASURES

Since the beginning of the pandemic, few new initiatives have been taken by policymakers to support investment in research and development pertaining to food and water security. And also a dedicated Food Security council in UAE has been formed in January to support farmers and food supply in Saudi Arabia. On a positive note, COVID -19 has become a reality check for governments and forced leaders across the world to reprioritize people-centered challenges.

The recent Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM for Climate) a collaborative initiative taken by US and UAE is a drive to bring innovation to the agricultural sector while actively being a part of addressing solutions for the climate crisis as well.  Apart from that UAE is taking a sustainable approach by using modern technology and innovation to work on the food crisis. This initiative is believed to find innovative solutions to all the challenges faced by the current food system related to climate and the environment.

VERTICAL FARMING FACILITIES

Despite being a country with extreme water stress, and climate conditions, UAE has always adapted quickly to such inhospitable conditions. As a result, in 2018, the new minister of state for food security provided a strategy aiding vertical farming facilities like Madar, given the country’s lack of arable land. In vertical farming, techniques such as hydroponics, drip irrigation, and enclosed cultivation are used, where the crops are grown indoors without soil, artificial light, and water-based nutrient solution.

SMART FARMS

Pure Harvest Smart Farm is the country’s first tech-enabled greenhouse.

Madar which is supported by the Abu Dhabi government will soon collaborate with them to expand the production to a large scale.

Crop one and Emirates a Dubai-based airline opened the world’s largest hydroponics farm in July to supply leafy greens for in-flight meals.

All these initiatives have in fact come in handy during the pandemic and kept the food supply secure resulting in an agricultural revolution.  Today it may be the Gulf but later on, due to climate changes, many countries will fall under the same crisis. Thus, it’s high time for governments and world leaders to work on new, sustainable solutions to tackle the challenges in food security because soon there is going to be a need to feed 10 billion mouths.

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