The UAE has also set up an ambitious National Food Security Strategy 2051, which aims to aims to achieve zero hunger by ensuring access to safe, nutritious, and sufficient food throughout the year, and throughout the world. The initiative is as necessary as it is timely.
“Food systems today are very inefficient, and the numbers show this. In fact, one-third of all food being produced goes to waste, yet we have more than 800 million people around the world going hungry. So, although we have the right food, it is not reaching the right people. And yet, in other parts of the world, we have a lot of the non-communicable diseases such as obesity and diabetes, which are all related to wrong foods or bad behaviour around food. We really have a broken food system,” Almheiri explained.
“And, at the same time, food systems contribute to one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions. So, the way they are now is a problem. Fixing our food systems challenge will also provide a huge solution for our climate agenda.”
Initiatives such as the FoodTech Challenge address this issue. The FoodTech Challenge was initially inaugurated in 2019 by the UAE Food and Water Security Office and Tamkeen, under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
Commenting on the initiative, Almheiri said: “If we can show how we grow food in hot arid climates in a water-scarce country with limited arable land, then we can solve a lot of the food systems problems around the world.
“The FoodTech Challenge also offers small-scale startups that have innovative ideas the opportunity to request a helping hand to access markets, to scale up, and to receive guidance. Through initiatives such as this we can incubate ideas, scale up ideas, and bring like-minded people to think about every step of the process – from production and distribution all the way to the consumer.”
The second edition of the FoodTech Challenge is being organised by the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment in partnership with Tamkeen, an Abu Dhabi entity that partners with leading local and international institutions to deliver projects that enrich the UAE’s social, cultural and educational landscape.
For this edition of the competition, the entities are also joined by ASPIRE, the programme management pillar of the Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), which oversees technology related R&D funding for Abu Dhabi and the wider UAE.
“Following on the success of the first edition, this edition has received increased interest. The prize money in the second edition has been doubled to $2 million. It will also take a more focused approach with a look at two specific tracks – namely, food production and food loss,” Almheiri added.
Each track of the FoodTech Challenge is also being supported by local champions, with Abu Dhabi’s ADQ and SILAL coming on board as track partners to increase food production, and the Emirates Foundation partnering to reduce food loss and waste.
Watch the video for to hear the UAE Minister Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri’s insights on the critical need to spur local production, enhance agri-tech innovation, and improve the ease of doing business in order to feed millions of people while protecting the planet against the ill effects of climate change.
(Source: ArabianBusiness YouTube channel)
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