The Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority (ADAFSA) has developed a model for UAE Food and Animal Feed Import Prediction using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies, in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Digital Authority (ADDA) and the Emirates ICT Innovation Center (EBTIC).
The model has been developed to build a future vision of the value of food imports to the UAE, and analysis of the most imported strategic foodstuffs, their sources and quantities, in order to identify potential diversification opportunities for imports and reduce waste.
It is built through the development of an interactive pictorial dashboard by analyzing a series of historical data on the quantities and values of imports and re-exports of animal, agricultural and feed food products.
The panel shows interactive information on countries from which food and feed are imported with the aim of creating a machine learning model to predict the number of imports of plant and animal food and animal feed to the UAE and determining its size and cost. The model also analyzes food waste in the UAE, thereby identifying potential opportunities for re-export.
Ms. Aysha Al Naili Al Shamisi Statistics & Analysis Division Director at ADAFSA said that developing a model for predicting food imports and understanding its trends helps to develop a clear picture of future levels of food imports, enabling the development of policies, regulations and plans to ensure the continuity of the State’s food supply, in times of disaster and crisis.
Ms. Shamsi also explained that the development of the model was based on data on the country’s food imports from 2015 to 2020, where data on animal food imports were relied upon for products such as eggs, frozen and fresh chicken meat, as well as agricultural products such as cucumber, tomatoes, watermelons, feed and hay to understand the level of dependence in meeting the needs of consumers for each product and its country of origin.
