EDB hails $305m in financing for agriculture businesses

Reuters/Rula Rouhana

• Funding for agriculture tech
• Boost for food production
• Target of 15% of loans

One dirham in 12 lent by Emirates Development Bank in the past three years has gone into financing for agriculture technology and food production businesses, the bank said on Thursday.

EDB said the AED1.12 billion ($305 million) of loans represent 8 percent of the AED14.72 billion of financing it has provided since April 2021. 

It said the financing for food-related projects and businesses reflected the importance it placed on the sector.

The bank has signed an agreement with Watermelon Ecosystem, a UAE-based business-to-business marketplace that connects buyers with sellers across the food and beverage supply chain, to explore ways of connecting with small and medium-sized farmers through referrals and joint marketing. 

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Watermelon Ecosystem has more than 50 local farmers on its platform.

Ahmed Mohamed Al Naqbi, the CEO of EDB, told AGBI in April that the bank had a mandate to fund AED30 billion of loans by 2026, and he wanted 10 to 15 percent of the total to go towards “incredibly important” food security. 

“We’re trying to go back to the source, and that’s the farmers themselves, supporting them with injecting advanced technology with what’s available on the agritech front, and also expanding the production capacity they have,” Al Naqbi said.

The UAE regularly launches initiatives and programmes to boost its food security. It imports nearly 85 percent of its food. Under its National Food Security Strategy 2051, it has an ambitious target of producing 50 percent of the food consumed locally in the next 25 years. 

In October the UAE launched the Plant the Emirates initiative, which aims to create a 20 percent increase in production from the country’s farms over the next five years, a 25 percent increase in the number of organic farms and a 30 percent increase in the percentage of farms that adopt “climate-smart” solutions.

The plan also targets reducing agricultural waste by 50 percent by 2030, increasing the use of local agricultural products in restaurants and hotels throughout the UAE by 25 percent and increasing the number of workers in the sector by 15 percent.