UAE strives to promote local farm goods at home, says New York Times

posted on 23/01/2011: 42 views

New York Times highlighted the UAE's efforts to promote local farming and products from the estimated 38000 farms, most of which are in Abu Dhabi.

Most of the estimated 38,000 farms in the U.A.E. are in Abu Dhabi, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the country's total area and has a history of planting trees and cultivation, according to a report by Vinita Bharadwaj of the New York Times.

It noted that a 2007 decree shifted responsibility for Abu Dhabi's agricultural sector to the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority, or ADFCA.

"As part of drawing up a revised agricultural framework, the A.D.F.C.A. is restructuring the sector," Mohamed Jalal al-Reyaysa, the authority's spokesman and the director of its department of communications and community services was quoted by the paper as saying.

"We're focusing on a sustainable policy that has social, economic and environmental benefits," Reyaysa said. "Cultivating Rhodes grass, for example, consumes far too much water." "Increased interest in locally grown produce is inevitable," said V. Nandakumar, a spokesman for Lulu hypermarkets and supermarkets, a regional chain that organised the local farm festival.

"Until about a year ago, the price of U.A.E.-grown vegetables was higher than imported produce from Jordan, Iran or India," he said. "It was simply because they weren't producing enough to meet local demand. Now, out of our daily sales of 850 tons of fresh fruits and vegetables, we procure 200 tons from about 80 local farms." - Emirates News Agency, WAM

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