Foodtech challenge

Food Security

Food security exists when people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.

Key challenges facing the UAE’s food security include:

The Global Food Security Index

The Global Food Security Index (GFSI) considers the core issues of affordability, availability, and quality across a set of 113 countries. The index is a dynamic quantitative and qualitative benchmarking model, constructed from 28 unique indicators, that measures the drivers of food security across both developing and developed countries.

The UAE is currently considered stable when it comes to food security, with key strengths in availability and food quality and safety. By 2051, the UAE aims to attain the #1 place in the Index.

The UAE’s National Food Security Strategy 2051

The UAE National Food Security Strategy 2051 aims for its population to have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food for an active and healthy life at affordable prices at all times. The strategy specifically aims to implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, which helps maintain ecosystems.

The strategy defines the elements of the national food basket, which includes over 20 main food types, based on three criteria: knowledge of the volume of domestic consumption of the most important products, production capacity and processing and nutritional needs.

Strategic targets for the National Food Security Strategy

Priority food items for the UAE

The impact of advanced technologies on agriculture in the UAE

A key element of tackling challenges faced in the UAE is enhancing agriculture technology practices. Through the use of Controlled-Environment Agriculture (CEA), which includes indoor vertical farms that can grow numerous produce, developing sustainable fish farming (aquaculture) and implementing advanced robotics to drive data-driven agriculture practices, the UAE is progressively moving forward in the disruption of food systems to be able to grow anything anywhere regardless of climate and environment.