The United Arab Emirates cultivates the desert in search of food security

By Abir Ahmar

SARJA, United Arab Emirates, Feb 15 (Reuters) – On the desert sands of Sarjah, eight green circles stand out as part of the United Arab Emirates’ wheat-growing program aimed at improving food security in an arid country that imports about 90% of its food.

The Emirati government launched the 400-hectare farm at Maleha in 2022, using desalinated water for irrigation, when upheavals from war and the COVID-19 pandemic raised concerns about the lack of arable land in the country.

“What has driven the wheat harvest is the issues with supply chains over the past two years, due to the COVID pandemic and the war between Ukraine and Russia,” Khalifa said. Alteneiji, president of the Ministry of Agriculture and of Sarja Livestock.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), a federation of seven emirates, imported 1.7 million metric tons of wheat in 2022, of which 330,000 tons came from Sarjah, according to state data.

The Maleha farm’s contribution is expected to be around 1,600 tonnes a year, a step towards the Persian Gulf oil producer’s higher ambitions to increase agriculture.

Authorities say the energy costs of producing the 18,000 cubic meters of desalinated water needed per day for irrigation will be proportionally lower as the project expands.

“We expect the cost of this (desalinated) water and the end product to be similar to the market,” Alteneiji said.

Ultimately, the UAE, which will host the COP28 climate conference this year, has food production plans that recycle water and minimize waste.

The plan for the Maleha farm, free of pesticides, chemicals and genetically modified seeds, is to expand it to 1,400 hectares by 2025 and eventually to 1,900 hectares.

The farm uses artificial intelligence and thermal imaging to collect weather and soil data to regulate irrigation rates and monitor growth.

“This is a special agricultural platform, which can help identify the amount of irrigation that has been carried out and plan for the next few days,” said Emirati Agriculture Director Ibrahim Ramadan.

The project includes experimental fields of 35 different types of wheat from around the world, spread over two hectares to explore their compatibility with the Emirati soil and climate.

(Reporting by Abir Ahmar; Writing by Ghaida Ghantous; Editing by Barbara Lewis;