EXCLUSIVE Sustainability Opec Fund piles up financing for wheat, wind and water The Opec Fund for International Development is on track to meet its pledges to increase grants and loans to climate-related projects, its Middle East and North Africa head has told AGBI. Musab Alomar, the fund’s director of public sector operations for Mena, said climate financing made up 33 percent of all Opec Fund approvals in […] November 30, 2023
Industry Egypt’s agriculture sector gets $100m funding boost UAE-based Arab Authority for Agricultural Investment and Development (AAAID) plans to invest $100 million into Egypt’s agricultural and livestock production sectors over the next three years, according to a local media report. The authority’s current investments in Egypt have reached $158 million, Egypt Today newspaper reported, citing chairman Mohamed Al Mazrooei. The significant investments include […] November 24, 2023
Agriculture UAE refreshes strategy to reduce food waste by 50% The UAE has launched an action plan to reduce food waste by 50 percent by 2030, minister of climate change and environment Mariam Almheiri said. At Cop28, which will be hosted in Dubai later this month, the UAE is prioritising the transformation of food and agricultural systems. Earlier this year, the Emirate launched the Cop28 […] November 20, 2023
Finance Agtech in spotlight as Mena startup funding recovers Startup funding in the Mena region in October remained subdued on a year-on-year basis, but agtech is one of the areas set to shine. Mena startups raised $156 million in October, compared to $646 million raised in October 2022, but vastly up on the $36 million raised in September, according to data from Wamda, a […] November 17, 2023
Analysis Trade Zimbabwe sharpens focus on trade with UAE The UAE could soon rival South Africa as Zimbabwe’s largest trading partner as the southern African country competes to attract more foreign investment. Zimbabwe is working to develop a number of sectors with the UAE, including agriculture, mining and energy, to build on the $2 billion bilateral trade registered last year, Lovemore Mazemo, Ambassador of […] November 13, 2023
Opinion Agriculture Careful what you wish for… AI and the future of agriculture AI may transform farming – and destroy livelihoods. We must manage the transition for rural societies November 8, 2023
Analysis Trade Dubai-Dutch office digs into UAE and Netherlands trade Dubai International Chamber has inaugurated its fourth European representative office, in Amsterdam. The UAE is seeking to build on bilateral non-oil trade of AED11.2 billion ($3.1 billion) with the Netherlands in the first half of 2023. Officials said the new office, which opened last month, will play a key role in enabling Dubai-based companies to […] November 2, 2023
Agriculture Qatar food giant mulls $1.5bn Egypt dairy farming project The largest dairy food producer in Qatar is exploring plans to invest up to $1.5 billion in a farming project in Egypt. Baladna, which is listed on the Qatar Stock Exchange, and the Suez Canal Authority have signed a memorandum of cooperation for the proposed development in Egypt’s south-west region. The farm would have 20,000 […] October 31, 2023
Industry Nadec profit almost triples on rising dairy and food sales The Saudi farming giant National Agricultural Development Company (Nadec) said net profit for the third quarter of 2023 rose more than 171 percent to SAR75.27 million, from SAR27.75 million a year earlier. Revenue jumped 22.55 percent year on year to SAR861.10 million, mainly due to a 23.37 percent increase in sales in the dairy and […] October 30, 2023
Agriculture Dubai’s Expo City to open ‘urban farm’ at Cop28 Expo City Dubai plans to open an urban farm at Cop28, demonstrating agricultural technologies being adopted in the UAE. The farm – more details of which will be unveiled in the coming weeks – is one of several decarbonisation initiatives planned for the climate change summit and beyond, Matt Brown, Expo City’s sustainability chief, told […] October 17, 2023
Video length: 03:47 VIDEO Food & Drink Why so much food is wasted in the UAE The UAE aims to reduce food loss and waste by 50 percent by 2030. “There is not much time left so we are working with speed to meet those targets,” said Khuloud Hasan Al Nuwais, chief sustainability officer of Emirates Foundation, which runs the national food loss and waste initiative Ne’ma. Food waste in the […] October 16, 2023
Agriculture UAE bank invests $196m in food security projects State-owned Emirates Development Bank (EDB) has approved over AED721 million ($196.29 million) in financial support for food security projects since the launch of its new strategy in April 2021. The bank has allocated AED30 billion to support 13,500 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in five priority sectors: manufacturing, renewables, technology, healthcare, and food security. Bank […] October 11, 2023
Agriculture Resilient foxtail millet could aid Gulf food security Researchers in Abu Dhabi have identified what they claim is a highly climate-resilient cereal crop – never farmed at scale before in the Middle East – that could pose a solution to the region’s escalating food security problem. Michael Purugganan, professor of biology at NYU Abu Dhabi, and his team published a study this summer […] September 12, 2023
Food & Drink HeroGo steps up fight against ‘ugly’ food waste HeroGo, an online delivery service for “ugly” or surplus produce, is planning to cut food waste beyond the UAE via partnerships with supermarkets and hotels, its founder reveals. “To have the biggest impact we need to be in multiple markets, so we’re in talks to expand in the near term,” HeroGo’s Daniel Solomon tells AGBI. […] August 28, 2023
Video length: 03:16 Video Economy Inflation in Egypt hit hard by Russia Inflation in Egypt is going to be a “long-stretched affair”, according to a Mena market researcher in a video interview with AGBI. Egypt’s annual headline inflation increased to a record 36.5 percent in July driven by high food prices. Currency devaluation and the Russia-Ukraine war have been the main factors contributing to the inflated prices. […] August 16, 2023
Video length: 04:13 Food & Drink Supermarkets embrace UAE’s brand of plant-based meat Switch Foods, the plant-based meat brand based in Abu Dhabi, is now available at 133 stores across the UAE as the Gulf’s appetite for alternative diets continues to grow. Consumers can now buy its products from retailers including Carrefour, Organic Food Café, Grandiose, Geant, Union Coop, Sharjah Coop, Al Maya, Abella and Spinneys. Online purchases […] August 8, 2023
Agriculture High-tech greenhouse turns up heat on UAE sustainability Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund ADQ has teamed up with Netherlands-based Safe Haven Solutions to build a high-tech greenhouse in the UAE capital. The 10-hectare facility will be built in ADQ’s AgTech Park in Khalifa Economic Zones Abu Dhabi. It will use advanced agriculture technology such as a cooling system inside the greenhouse to help […] August 7, 2023
Analysis Agriculture Saudi and Brazil sow seeds to partner on food security Saudi Arabia is intensifying its trade and investment ties with Latin America in pursuit of food security and green energy, as a ministry-led delegation hunts for opportunities in Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Argentina, Panama and Paraguay. A visit to São Paulo earlier this week by Khalid al-Falih, Saudi minister of investment, coincided with a Brazilian […] August 3, 2023
Agriculture UAE’s farming task force clinches $136m supply deal Farms in the UAE have provisionally agreed to supply food and agricultural products totalling AED500 million ($136 million) over five years to some of the country’s biggest public sector institutions. The deal is the first to be struck by the National Farm Sustainability Initiative (NFSI) task force, a government group set up by the UAE’s […] August 2, 2023
Agriculture Cop28 urges nations to put food at heart of climate action The UAE has called on governments around the world to put food at the centre of their climate-change agendas. Speaking at the UN Food Systems Summit in Rome on Monday, Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri, the UAE’s minister of climate change and the environment and Cop28 food systems lead, invited governments to sign the Leaders Declaration […] July 25, 2023
Agriculture Saudi dairy giant plans to turn bio-waste into fertiliser Saudi farming giant National Agricultural Development Company has signed a deal to recycle the bio-waste produced by its 92,000 cows. The business, which is known as Nadec, said an estimated 150,000 tons of bio-waste were produced annually at its dairy farms in the kingdom. In a filing to the Saudi Stock Exchange on Tuesday, Nadec […] July 25, 2023
Opinion Sustainability Iran is running out of water, with little sign of progress During the winter months, snowfall carpets the Alborz mountains that loom over Tehran, sending millions of gallons of water through the capital’s roadside drains known as jubes and world-famous qanat systems of underground aqueducts. Across the country, a series of naturally occurring lakes and rivers combined with reservoirs and dams combine to trap the snowmelt. […] July 24, 2023
