UAE desert farm cultivates wheat in quest for food security
'What pushed wheat farming were the problems with the supply chains in the last couple of years due to the Covid pandemic and the Ukraine-Russia war'
In the desert sands of Sharjah, eight green circles stand out as the United Arab Emirates cultivates wheat to improve food security in an arid country that imports some 90 percent of its food.
As the disruptions of both Covid and the war in Ukraine heightened concern over the UAE’s lack of arable land, Abu Dhabi launched the nearly 1,000-acre Mleiha farm in 2022, using desalinated water for irrigation.
"What pushed wheat farming were the problems with the supply chains in the last couple of years due to the Covid pandemic and the Ukraine-Russia war," Khalifa Alteneiji, chairman of Sharjah's Agriculture and Livestock Department, told Reuters.
The Arab Gulf federation of seven emirates imported over 1.8 million tons of wheat last year, with Sharjah accounting for nearly 364,000 tons, according to government figures. Contribution from the Mleiha farms is expected to reach some 1,700 tons annually – a step toward the oil producer’s ambitions to increase farming.
https://x.com/i/web/status/1612059116322836481
This post can't be displayed because social networks cookies have been deactivated. You can activate them by clicking .
The plan for the farm – which is free of pesticides, chemicals, and genetically modified seeds – is to expand it to 3,400 acres by 2025, and eventually to nearly 4,700 acres. It uses artificial intelligence and thermal imaging to gather weather and soil data to regulate irrigation rates and monitor growth.
"This a special agricultural platform, which can help identify the irrigation quantity that was completed, and to plan the irrigation quantity for coming days," Agriculture Director Ibrahim Ramadan said.
The project includes experimental fields of 35 different types of wheat from around the world, spread across nearly five acres to explore compatibility with Emirati soil and weather.