No awareness of organic foods, says official

Dubai: The heat, sandy soil and high salt content in the water are not agri-friendly to grow organic foods and vegetables in the UAE, said a senior agriculture ministry official.

The cost of production of organic foods here, which are grown free from pesticides and fertilisers, is the highest in the world, but a handful of farmers have sought permission to grow the chemical-free foods, the official said.

But he said that due to lack of public awareness very few people buy organic foods and some products perish and are thrown away.

The UAE began organic farming only last year with a date palm farm with nearly 70,000 trees. The Ministry also plans to put organically-grown vegetables such as squash, cucumber and herbs on the store shelves by 2007.

Some health-conscious expatriates said they only buy organically-grown produce, but are unhappy over the limited choice of fruits and vegetables in the market which are imported from South Africa, Australia and Europe.

Both the UAE nationals and the Asian expatriate community are happy with the regular foods in the supermarkets as they struggle to cope with the rising costs.