The Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority, ADAFSA, has developed the unique Agricultural Oasis Exhibition at the Sheikh Zayed Festival to provide visitors with a distinctive experience, introducing innovative and modern agriculture methods and techniques and showcasing their importance in agricultural production processes through the four sections of the pavilion: the farmers' market, smart services, the sale and production of honey and home farming.
In the Smart Services’ section, ADAFSA has utilized screens to introduce and explain its strategic objectives when it comes to protecting natural resources, the environment, and ensuring sustainable food supply, in line with the smart transformation of ADAFSA.
Within the framework of its support for farmers and encouragement of taking up investment opportunities in this important sector, ADAFSA launched the Agricultural Investment Guide 2021-2022, to introduce the diversified investment opportunities available in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and provide guidance on how to benefit from them, in order to achieve added value to the economy and investors and identifying the investment opportunities, and all enablers that make Abu Dhabi the best place for an ambitious investment partnership with the government sector, in addition to that, it is a link to the most prominent investments in the agricultural and food sector needed by the local market, where Abu Dhabi's remarkable growth in all sectors continues to ensure sustained economic growth.
Dr. Mohammed Salman Al Hammadi, Director of the Communication and Community Service Division at ADAFSA, said: "Through the Agricultural Oasis Exhibition at the Sheikh Zayed Festival, we aim to raise awareness among the public of the indispensable importance of agriculture, through a number of activities and special events and the sale of certain products, showcasing the role of ADAFSA and its services in providing modern technologies and methods used in agriculture, as well as shedding more light on the evolving methods of agricultural production."
Al Hammadi noted that ADAFSA had set aside a special section for the sale of high quality UAE honey products to highlight beekeepers and the production process of natural honey. The section features different types and grades of natural honey and explains the benefits of bees in agriculture. The ADSAFSA ’s pavilion reflects the honey industry's journey and shows how bee hives are built, the practice of supplementary bee feeding, and how honey is extracted in a sustainable way that maintains its quality.
Al Hammadi pointed out that the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority is keen to show visitors to the Festival the great developments that Abu Dhabi had seen in the fields of agriculture, food safety, food security and organic produce, and highlight the emirate’s efforts to upgrade this sector, achieve concepts of sustainable development, adopt modern technologies in agriculture, support local products, establish its position in the market and support farmers in order to strengthen the UAE’s food security system.
ADAFSA works to educate and inform farmers about the application of agricultural extension guide to tablets and smartphones with the goal of spreading knowledge about sustainable farming concepts and helping farmers and livestock breeders apply the best practices in agriculture and livestock breeding.
Through, its pavilion at the Festival, ADAFSA showcases its strategies in developing and controlling a sustainable, effective, flexible and integrated food supply system, and agricultural development empowerment plans through innovation, investment, promotion of good agricultural practices, promotion of competitive local product, and raising the level of community awareness and participation in the use of organic agricultural products.
In order to enable visitors to become more aware of the importance of organic farming and the use of natural materials, ADAFSA has established a list of a range of educational information in a useful manual for visitors that they can download to their smartphones by simply scanning a QR Code. The manual includes information on fermionic and photovoltaic pest traps, citrus tree protection, fertilizer deficiency symptoms, agricultural pesticides that are banned in the UAE, symptoms of palm pests and good practices for palm tree plantations, date production, proper and safe circulation of agricultural materials, unhealthy farming practices and other important agricultural topics.
At the Farmers’ market section, participants sell their produce of vegetables and fruits at reasonable prices to the public. Honey producer Kamel Al Jabri thanked the Sheikh Zayed Festival for providing the pavilion in collaboration with the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority as a unique platform to exhibit the products of his apiary, which represent some of the highest quality products, proudly produced in the UAE.
A farm owner representative Reda Syed said: "We have been participating in the Sheikh Zayed Festival for 3 years now, and showcasing our organic produce, free of all chemical fertilizers, which is a goal which the Authority seeks by bringing farmers to the Festival to showcase their organic products, encouraging the rest of farmers to follow the same steps."
Throughout 2020 and 2021, ADAFSA successfully built partnerships with several investment companies that led to the adoption of 13 investment projects in the fields of fish farming, livestock and organic produce, with a total value of about AED 1.2 billion to support the growth and economic prosperity of the emirate.
Abu Dhabi Agriculture & Food Safety Authority is the local government entity in charge of agriculture, food safety, food security and biosecurity in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. It aims to develop a sustainable agriculture and food sector and protect the health of animals and plants in order to enhance biosecurity and achieve sustainable food security by preparing plans, programs and activities in the field.
