Abu Dhabi: A total of 50 individuals and entities have been honoured with the Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Agricultural Excellence Award in its first edition.
Maryam Almheiri, UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment, recently attended the award ceremony in Al Wathba to recognise the awardees. The ceremony also saw the presence of Sheikh Ahmed bin Hamdan Al Nahyan, chairman of the Abu Dhabi Agricultural Club and chairman of the Emirates Kiteboarding Committee and the Emirates Sup and Surf Committee, Dr Mugher Khamis Al Khaili, chairman of the Department of Community Development – Abu Dhabi, Saeed Al Ameri, Director General of the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority, and Humaid Saeed Al Neyadi, director of the private office of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and vice chairman of the Supreme Organising Committee of the Sheikh Zayed Festival.
The organising committee announced 50 winners for the award out of a total of 832 participants from different emirates of the country. Entities competed in the three main categories of the award, including 227 participants who competed in the plant category, and 121 participants who competed in the animal category. The higher organising committee of the Award will now promote the agricultural practices of the winners with the aim of transferring knowledge, and exchanging expertise, on the best agricultural practices that enhance agricultural sustainability and food security in the UAE.
Encouraging innovation
“The Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Agricultural Excellence Award is a sincere expression of our wise leadership’s interest in the agricultural renaissance in the UAE, and confirms its keenness to encourage creativity and innovation, and to rely on the development of knowledge and excellence as a basis for progress,” Al Ameri said.
He pointed out that the first edition of the award succeeded in attracting a large constellation of distinguished farmers, livestock breeders, commercial farms, beekeepers, honey producers and productive families in different emirates of the country.
“We are proud of the wide and distinguished participation in the first edition of the Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Agricultural Excellence Award, as we were delighted to see the participation of 832 participants,” said Dr Maryam Hareb Al Suwaidi, chairman of the supreme committee of the Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Agricultural Excellence Award, and deputy director general of the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority for operational affairs.
Winners
Khalifa Suhail Al Mazrouei won first place in the Best Open Farm category for his success in implementing innovative solutions that help rationalise the use of natural resources, and for growing rare and unique varieties of date palms using good agricultural practices.
In the Best Greenhouse Farm category, Hassan Juma Al Zaabi won the first prize for adopting diverse productive practices with economic returns, and for achieving appropriate productivity of high quality for various crops.
As for the Best Fruit Farm category, Sultan Saeed Al-Aryani won first place for his success in implementing practices that help to safely recycle waste, as well as productive activities with economic returns. He also has a unique numbering system for all palm trees planted with tags, in addition to the application of biosecurity standards and requirements.
In the Best Organic Farm category, Rashid Sulayyem Al-Ketbi won first place for his success in adopting practices that help recycle agricultural waste and use it as organic fertiliser. He also adopts productive activities with an economic return that maintain sustainability and apply biosecurity requirements to prevent pests.
Rashid Farhan Al-Kuwaiti won first place in the productive livestock farm category. His main strengths were the presence of a site for the collection of animal manure and its recycling for agricultural use after processing, and the presence of a special entrance for visitors to the sales service, separate from the farm’s activities, which helps to strengthen the biosecurity system.
Ghanim Sultan Al Suwaidi won first place in the Small Producer category for his implementation of modern and sophisticated feeding systems for buffaloes through the presence of a feed factory, and local manufacturing and the use of dates and syrups in feeding processes. Al Suwaidi is also keen to improve and develop the productivity of his tenure using artificial insemination procedures.
In the Best Beekeeper category, Fadel Nasser Al-Saadi won first place for his ability to produce large quantities of honey in several seasons,
Hamed Ahmed Al-Hamid won first place in the Agricultural Plant Innovation category for his ability to find innovative solutions to the challenges of agriculture in general.
In the Innovation in Animal Production category, Salem Al Rashedi won first place for creating investment opportunities in the livestock sector by coordinating with authorities to purchase camel meat from Al Khaznah slaughterhouse. He also created new food products from camel meat, including mortadella camel meat.
Pure Harvest Farm was awarded first place in the category of commercial plant production farms, while Al Ajban Poultry Farms won first place in the Commercial Livestock Farm category.
