The food gap in the country narrowed thanks to the growth of livestock numbers by 8% last year, while Abu Dhabi accounted for 70% of the total livestock, according to estimates by the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment.

Statistics indicate that the number of herds of goats and sheep in the country has so far reached about 5 million heads, in addition to about 450 thousand heads of camels.

According to the Federal Center for Competitiveness and Statistics, the number of head of livestock in the country in 2020 reached 5054462 head, distributed among 2054572 head of sheep, or 40.6 percent, in addition to 2399264 head of goats, or 47.4%, in addition to 103,102 head of cows and 497,524 head of camels. .
Abu Dhabi accounted for 70% of the total head of cattle in the country with 35,15281 head of cattle, followed by Ras Al Khaimah with 457,893 or 9%, Fujairah with 405,561 heads or 8%, Sharjah with 331,877 heads of cattle, Dubai with 1,99637 heads, Umm Al Quwain with 87,718 heads, and Ajman with 56,495 head of cattle.
The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment stated that the UAE possesses an important livestock wealth, which constitutes an important element for food security and the national economy alike.

The Ministry focuses its efforts on developing policies to preserve this wealth and organize the process of commercial exploitation of it to enhance its contribution to narrowing the food gap and the national economy, through the development and application of an integrated management strategy to protect and develop livestock, and raise biosecurity rates.

A plan for the Ministry aims to develop and implement programs to prevent and monitor animal diseases and epidemics, develop inspection and control mechanisms and standards on local farms and through border crossings, in addition to developing and strengthening information exchange mechanisms at the local and global levels.

The ministry pointed out that it aims to enhance the role of the private sector in achieving the goals of the state, and dealing with the most important challenges facing workers in the food-related sectors, to ensure the enhancement of food security and sustainability and to ensure the flexibility and continuity of local and external supply chains.

With regard to importing livestock from outside the country, the ministry has developed a system of services provided to the movement of food import in the country’s outlets that have been implemented during the last period, which includes providing an integrated package of electronic services related to approving, quarantine, examining and releasing consignments, increasing the absorptive capacity of quarantine centers, and enhancing the efficiency and number of cadres. The technician in the examination centers, to ensure the absorption of larger numbers of consignments imported to the country and the speedy completion of procedures for examination and release.

It is noteworthy that the total consignments of live animals that were entered into the local market during the period from the first of January to the end of March of 2021 amounted to 284,265 head, compared to 232,662 head for the same period in 2020, an increase of approximately 22%.

As for the support provided to breeders, the Ministry provides free veterinary services to livestock breeders through its 20 veterinary clinics at the state level, including treatment, immunization and counseling services, to ensure the promotion of animal health and animal production.

The Ministry implements campaigns throughout the year to immunize against the most important animal diseases with an economic impact, and provide these services through a specialized staff with experience and competence that includes more than 700 veterinarians affiliated with the Ministry and all government agencies concerned with the sector, including 324 doctors in the field of animal health and 398 doctors in the field of Food Safety.

Reda Al Bawardi - Abu Dhabi

It is not traditional anymore, everything is moving at an accelerating pace, it is the year 2070, when Emirati farms are teeming with robots, with the early morning, self-driving cars begin plowing the earth, driven by robots, followed by drones all the time, spraying seeds and giving them a report Detailed about the condition of the soil and moisture, directing it in a smart way, until the harvest begins, so that another car powered by solar energy carries out the picking process, and selects the ripe fruits, excluding those that have not yet ripened, then sends detailed reports on the condition of the fruits, and in the event of an agricultural pest, they identify and deal with it ; Detailed information is sent to the digital control room that is the mastermind of the farm, generates the necessary statistics, as well as the presence of robot workers, virtual non-physical fence, digital fields, robotic control room, and more.


A hypothetical image and a forward-looking view monitored by "Al-Bayan", inspired by the national endeavors on the future of agriculture, and sustainable efforts that push agriculture and food security towards different future paths, to place the UAE in the ranks of the global countries that rely on the triad of automation, innovative solutions and agricultural research for food sustainability.

In a related context, research and investigation about new solutions and advanced studies related to the agricultural sector have become an imperative and a vital focus for which strategies are formulated, as it is an essential tributary to food security, which would stimulate endeavors and calls to encourage scientific agricultural research.

This is the approach that the UAE government and all the authorities responsible for agriculture in the country have followed, including the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority, which adopts a development policy based on directing investment in the agricultural, food and technological sectors. The agricultural sector in Abu Dhabi has become contributing to more than 40 different local agricultural products. .

partnerships

And because the cross-fertilization of global ideas is of great importance in reaching the sustainable goals set by the authority, many international partnerships and memoranda of understanding that support the food security system have been established, with many research centers, universities and the private sector at the international, regional and local levels, which serve to achieve the vision and goals of the authority in The areas of agricultural sustainability and food and biosecurity, the most important of which are an agreement in the field of agriculture and modern agricultural techniques with the Rural Development Institute (RDI) in the Republic of South Korea, an agreement for a sustainable agricultural development plan with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), agreements with the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), and an agreement with the Center International Biosaline Agriculture Dubai ICBA.

the nerve of food

Agricultural technology has become the alphabet of companies looking for fresh investment and sustainable food, in preparation for a developed agricultural future in the UAE.

Jinan Investment Company confirmed that attention to the four aspects of irrigation, technical equipment, continuous development and supply chain facilities, constitute a solid basis for supporting national agriculture and foreign investments today and in the future, and the company focuses on supporting these aspects with continuous research and development, which contributed to being a key player in the process of achieving The national agenda and the promotion of food security, which made the company at the forefront of investment companies in the field of agriculture and food production in the UAE and the region.

Irrigation "subsurface"

In 5 continents around the world, the farms owned by Al Dahra Agricultural Company are spread, as the company has started in the United States of America, specifically the state of Arizona, to use subsurface irrigation systems, and these systems are known for their great efficiency to save water and their contribution to sustainability, in order to reduce the quantities used of fertilizers and pesticides to To a very large extent and to preserve the plant and its continuity for the largest possible period.

Also in Romania, Al Dahra uses the largest and most powerful corn and wheat harvesters.

Agriculture automation

Of course, the outlook for the future of agriculture in the UAE is based on the possibilities of high standards and the cross-fertilization of sustainable ideas at the global and regional levels, and was predicted by many global reports that discussed the technical future of agriculture in the Middle East. The National Farmers Report and the Future of Food in 2040 report, to monitor international trends on the future of technical agriculture, where Graham stressed that it is important to think seriously about how to increase productivity and reduce the impact on the environment, as there are technologies under development that will take care of crops and every cultivation or control of pasture Livestock without a physical fence, and by 2040 this technology will be common in the field of agriculture, and the second step is that the agricultural sector must become more efficient to reduce the volume of greenhouse gas emissions, as the agricultural sector plays a prominent role in increasing these gases globally.

Graham said: "Over the next 20 years, we will face potential changes arising from earthquakes, in addition to the increase in the world's population and the need to limit climate change in thinking about sustainable technical solutions, including vertical farming and emerging crops, as the introduction of vertical agriculture and recent developments that will occur in the The technology of using artificial lighting in agriculture (LED lighting), to expand the range of crops that can be grown using hydroponics, aquatic diets, and other controlled ecosystems.