Sheikh Mohammed visits Fish Farm in Dubai, encourages domestic food production

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, visited Fish Farm in Dubai’s Jebel Ali on Tuesday while encouraging measures to boost domestic food production.

“Expanding domestic food production to achieve self-sufficiency is a strategic objective and one of the main pillars of the National Food Security Strategy,” said Sheikh Mohammed.

He also encouraged Emiratis to work on initiatives that will boost the country’s food production.

“Food is a strategic commodity and we look to young Emiratis to propose new ideas and projects to help further enhance food production. We have a clear strategy and sufficient resources to achieve our objectives. We are confident that we can generate practical solutions to achieve self-sufficiency,” added Sheikh Mohammed.

.@HHShkMohd, accompanied by @HamdanMohammed, @MaktoumMohammed and @AhmedMohammed, visits Fish Farm in #Dubai, which produces about 3,000 tons of organic fish per year.https://t.co/D8ZkbzNft6 pic.twitter.com/AMDu4zTdwY

— Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) June 23, 2020

The Fish Farm in Jebel Ali which began operations in 2013, has an inland facility to breed fish in a controlled environment and can produce about 3,000 tons of organic fish per year.

The farm focuses on building marine fish breeding and hatchery facilities to support local markets through its main unit in Dubai and two branches in Dibba Al Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain.

Read: Special focus: How the UAE is leading the charge in food security

The CEO of the Fish Farm, Bader bin Mubarak, briefed Sheikh Mohammed on the strategy of the farm and its future expansion plans, particularly in the area of cold-water fish, that aimed to reduce imports and secure sustainable supplies to local markets.

Earlier this week, the UAE’s Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority said that the value of UAE food products traded in Q1 2020 totalled Dhs31.7bn, with the value of the country’s food imports in the first quarter of this year amounting to Dhs17.98bn.

Read: UAE food products trade amounted to Dhs31.7bn in Q1 2020

Sheikh Mohammed added that the country’s ability to ensure sustained flow of food supplies during the Covid-19 outbreak showed the resilience of national food security strategies and the country’s capability to ensure that none of its markets witnessed a shortage in food supply.

In May, Sheikh Mohammed approved the formation of a team that was tasked with developing modern agriculture practices in the country and using technology to expand food production to create sustainable agriculture.

Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan also allocated Dhs5.6bn to support R&D into water scarcity and food security last year.