The Middle East is Now A Leader in Sustainable Food Production And Here’s Why!
By Kareem Sheta
For decades the media has portrayed the impact of numerous well-known agrarian initiatives, sponsored by prominent organizations, on the western side of the world. Well, step back our foreign neighbors, because it’s now time to share the spotlight! Two months ago, the “Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture” was held at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre under the patronage of HRH Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority, along with attendees from more than 80 countries.
So what is Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture? It is a global authority on sustainable food production that plants innovation through exhibitions and conferences across the Middle East, Europe, and Africa. Since 2014, their events have hosted over 20,000 attendees and have worked with over 50 global partners. “Each exhibition offers a pioneering platform that fosters meaningful dialogue, collaboration, recognition and year-round action between regional food producers, buyers, innovators, policymakers, and investors”. According to GFIA, they firmly believe that continuous innovation in agriculture is the only way to sustainably feed nine billion people by 2050!
What revolutionary events were introduced this year? To address the Mena Region’s growing issue of food security, GFIA Abu Dhabi presented the latest innovations and technologies revolving around six distinct significant fields: indoor farming and hydroponics, date palm production, aqua-tech, livestock and animal health, smart honey production, and sustainable crops. The speakers were quite eclectic as well as they consisted of men and women from all over the globe, including engineers, businesspeople, professors, and royalty.
During this groundbreaking event, the GFIA Innovation Awards, designed to celebrate innovations that help improve global food security with the least environmental impact, were awarded to seven praiseworthy recipients.
- Healthy Bees LLC for Best innovation in honey production
- Evergreen Farm Oy for Best indoor farming innovation
- Olmix for Best innovation in animal production
- Fresh Corporation for Best aquaculture innovation
- Natural Alternatives for Best date production innovation
- Agro LLC for Best innovation in crops production
- Agunity for Best innovation by a start-up company
