UAE farm sector achieves tremendous progress

The UAE agricultural sector has shown tremendous progress, with the number of farms increasing by 25.4 per cent from 28,369 in 1999 to 35,584 in 2000, and the cultivated area increasing by 14.7 per cent to become 2.6 million donums in 2000, according to the agricultural statistic yearbook for 2000 released recently by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.

This increase is not an incidental event but part of a planned strategy to diversify the economy. The numbers prove this, showing that for the past five years the average annual growth rate of farms has been 9.3 per cent.

The country's total agricultural production has increased by 70.5 per cent and the value of this total production has increased by 34.5 per cent to Dh 7.4 billion in 2000.

Most of the planted area is in Abu Dhabi as the emirate captures 58.2 per cent of UAE farms, and 86 per cent of the overall cultivated land.

The break-up of farms in the UAE shows that Ras Al Khaimah, Fujairah and Sharjah rank next with minor differences in their numbers. Dubai has 1,268 farms or 3.6 per cent of the total ranches, and Umm Al Quwain has less than one per cent of the total number of farms in UAE.

The break-up of cultivated area shows that Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah are placed second with a share of 4.6 per cent for each. Dubai ranks third with a share of 2.1 per cent, Fujairah is fourth with 1.8 per cent. Of the country's overall cultivated land, 70.3 per cent is planted with palm trees; 15.7 per cent with vegetables; 6.4 per cent with crops; and one per cent with fruit. It is important to note that greenhouses comprise 6.5 per cent of the cultivated land.

Among the classified vegetables, tomato, sweet melon, cabbage, onion, squash and egg plant captures most of the area allocated for vegetables. Whereas, lime, mango, other citrus fruit and guava takes up most of the area allocated to fruit. Green fodder, tobacco and wheat covers most of the area allocated to field crops.

A comparison of 2000 figures with those of the previous year show that while the area for crop and fodder increased by 92 per cent, the area for vegetables increased by 15.6 per cent; the area for palm trees grew by 8.8 per cent; but there was a drop of 2.4 per cent in the area for fruits.

Abu Dhabi has 92.9 per cent of the cultivated area allocated for planting palm trees, 86.3 per cent of the area for vegetables and 66.2 per cent of the crop and fodder area. The second largest area planted with vegetables is in Ras Al Khaimah; third largest in Sharjah.