His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, emphasized the significance of food security as a key element of comprehensive development and highlighted UAE’s keenness to formulate plans and policies aimed at facilitating sustainable food production by utilizing the latest in technology and innovative approaches.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed stated that the founding father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, realized the importance of this sector at an early stage and began to implement agricultural development plans, “We have learned from Sheikh Zayed, the founding father of the UAE, the importance of agriculture to sustaining civilization. In Zayed’s footsteps, we follow, marching ahead to create a better future for our country.”
Image Courtesy: WAM
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid’s comments were part of his chairing the remote Cabinet meeting, held today, where a number of decisions including the “UAE Sustainable Agriculture System” aimed at increasing self-sufficiency in crops, increasing returns and investments in the sector were approved.
A first of its kind initiative, the UAE Sustainable Agriculture System strives to increase UAE’s self-sufficiency from agricultural production and increase the workforce in the agricultural sector. The new System also seeks to make proactive changes in food and agricultural systems through investments in agriculture by utilizing modern technologies.
Choosing the right marketing and obtaining a competitive advantage are key components to the System to motivate consumers to buy sustainable products, which contributes to the development in the supply chain.
A joint program that was undertaken between the Future Food Security Office and the Government Accelerators to develop solutions has greatly benefited the UAE Sustainable Agriculture System that guarantees more competitiveness of local food production and to provide support channels for those involved in this sector.
The System is built on artificial intelligence and blockchain technologies as its key technologies while smartphone applications are expected to be used to help farmers to monitor the insect’s movement. Other tools are also used to damage the insect’s fertility.
The system also seeks to achieve several social, economic and environmental objectives, including increasing the labor force by 5 percent annually, enhancing the self-sufficiency rates of targeted agricultural crops by 5 percent annually, and ration the use of water in production by 15 percent annually.
