UAE to Grow More Food in the Desert as Pandemic Disrupts Imports - Bloomberg
The United Arab Emirates, most of which is desert, said it should be able to triple the proportion of its food that’s local within a decade.
A surge in food prices globally and the disruption to supply chains caused by the coronavirus pandemic have caused the oil-rich UAE to accelerate schemes to grow more crops and farm more livestock. The country, which includes Abu Dhabi and the business hub of Dubai, currently imports about 90% of its needs.
The government has stepped up plans in the past year for everything from growing rice in the desert to importing dairy cows and researching how to make food in space and other extreme climates. In November, ADQ, one of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth funds, bought a 45% stake in agricultural trader Louis Dreyfus Company BV.
“Realistically, we’re looking at maybe increasing our domestic production going toward 30%-40% in the next 10 years,” Mariam Almheiri, the minister of state for food and water security, said on Bloomberg TV. “We all know that being dependent on global food supplies is not a good thing.”
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