The Department of Economic Development Abu Dhabi has announced the creation of a package of 15 new economic activities for small producers in the vegetable production sector at the level of the Abu Dhabi Emirate, in cooperation with the Abu Dhabi Authority for Agriculture and Food Safety, bringing the total economic activities in the agricultural sector at the level of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi to 46 economic activities.
The new package for the activities of small-scale producers in the plant production sector includes the cultivation of wheat, corn, barley, leguminous vegetables, oil seeds, vegetables, roots, tubers, melons, flowers, buds, palm trees, fruits, citrus fruits, nuts, and fruit seeds from which spices and aromatic plants are extracted.
Department Undersecretary Rashid Abdul Karim Al Balushi confirmed that the launch of this new package of agricultural activities reflects the Abu Dhabi government's keenness to boost the agricultural boom witnessed in the UAE, which contributed to increasing locally produced varieties of vegetables and fruits to more than 70 varieties with high quality specifications.
He pointed out that this new bouquet of economic activities in the agricultural sector will contribute to strengthening the efforts of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi to introduce and adopt new high-yielding varieties after ensuring their success in local environmental conditions, where approximately 27 varieties of citrus varieties were recently produced, after their evaluation and approval. Which will enhance the sector's contribution to the emirate's GDP.
Rashid Al Balooshi said that this new package gives citizens of private farm owners the opportunity to engage in more plant production activities through a variety of commercial activities launched by the department with the aim of encouraging local production of plant production and giving farmers the opportunity to contract with all sales outlets and supply their products directly.
For his part, Director General of the Abu Dhabi Authority for Agriculture and Food Safety Saeed Al-Bahri Al-Amri expressed his pride in the vision adopted by the Abu Dhabi Government to achieve development in its comprehensive concept through the integration of the roles of government bodies, where all institutions play integrated roles to promote sustainable development in various sectors, stressing that sustainable agricultural development is achieved in The Emirate of Abu Dhabi has made great strides thanks to this vision and the cooperation of all relevant government institutions. The agricultural sector is witnessing remarkable growth in terms of quantity and quality of production and development of agricultural methods based on modern technology and good practices.
He said that licensing farmers to engage in marketing activities and selling their farm products to merchants and retail stores helps them gain more experience by identifying the desires and aspirations of merchants and consumers, which reflects positively on agricultural practices and post-harvest transactions, and increasing the economic return to agriculture.
He pointed out that the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority is committed to providing all forms of support to farms holding commercial licenses, as the authority will develop lists of their names and ways to communicate with them within the authority’s electronic portal so that merchants and retail stores can communicate with their owners to contract to purchase the products of their farms, as an additional promotional channel for them, The authority is also keen to implement promotional campaigns to encourage the local product in the markets.
He explained that the authority works to provide extension services and technical support through 27 agricultural extension centers to help Abu Dhabi farmers adopt the best agricultural practices and provide evidence of good agricultural practices for the production of vegetables and fruits and post-harvest transactions to help farm owners to take care of production and improve the efficiency of the supply chain from the farm to the table, and develop Competitive value chain of domestic product.
It is worth noting that the Emirate of Abu Dhabi acquires the largest percentage of farms in the UAE, and the Abu Dhabi Authority for Agriculture and Food Safety is keen to prepare an annual agricultural plan to organize the work of these farms in line with the needs of the market and consumers, and the Authority is keen to introduce and adopt new high-yielding varieties after making sure Its success in local environmental conditions such as figs, olives, papaya, pineapple and cranberries (rosebriques and blackberries), and approximately 27 varieties of citrus varieties were produced, after their evaluation and approval.