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Going high-tech and sustainable is food for thought

Dubai - The challenge of finding new and better ways to farm is a priority, experts say.

With the UAE marching towards its goal of becoming a world-leading hub in innovation-driven food security, the necessary technologies and educating stakeholders need to be in place.

And it doesn’t matter if you’re a wealthy nation or not: The coronavirus pandemic has only magnified the need to be prepared for any challenges that may be faced anywhere in the world, with the disruptions it has caused urging action sooner than later.

The enablers are already at our disposal — AI, blockchain, the cloud, IoT, TV white space, intelligent edge, drones and satellite imagery — and they are ready to be leveraged to tackle focus areas including water scarcity, pest control, early crop disease detection and local farmer support, among several others, which would then eventually target the food security goal.

Simply put, technology is able to address fundamental pieces like security and sustainability, says Sayed Hashish, general manager of Microsoft UAE.

“Every country needs to focus on food security… when supply chains and trade are impacted, you need to make sure that you’re able to provide for yourself,” he told Khaleej Times in an interview at Gitex Technology Week in Dubai.

A central Microsoft showcase at Gitex is AI solution Azure FarmBeats, which enables data-driven farming to maximise agricultural output. It leverages artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things to support sustainable farming practices and contribute to food security.

The global population — over 7.5 billion at present — is pegged to hit the 10 billion mark by 2050. Considering the fact that if today there is already a food crisis in certain parts of the world, the need to address the additional coming number of mouths to feed is already a challenge in itself.

Another issue is the agricultural land seemingly always under threat because of urbanisation and developments. Add water resources under pressure and the use of pesticides, among several other negative factors, the challenge of finding new and better ways to farm is a priority.

“We’re trying to address [food security] with digitally transforming the agricultural industry through AI and IoT, basically solutions that will help the farmers who want us to get all the required data to help them make the right decisions at the right time,” Hashish says.

The use of drones and sensors connected to the cloud, for example, can be a low-cost and easy-to-implement strategy, which can provide any information from which pesticides to use to the yield of your crop.

Utilising data visualisation, machine learning and data analytics, automated recommendations are provided, enabling growers to calibrate water usage and soil quality. This, in turn will allow more sustainable farming under challenging conditions.

The importance of this innovation has become critical as the coronavirus pandemic has seen the UAE and Gulf economies increasingly prioritise food security and lay the foundations for long-term strategies to reimagine food systems.

“By 2050 there will be a need to feed nine to 10 billion people, requiring a significant increase in food production. However, there is a limited amount of additional arable land, and water levels have also been receding. Cloud technology may prove crucial to address this agricultural challenge,” Hashish added.

“During the pandemic, we have seen how technology has rapidly provided response and recovery mechanisms. Now, governments are reimagining a more positive world, and we are investing alongside them into critical technological infrastructure to solve pressing challenges.”

Being a laggard in adoption is also not an option, as proven by the pandemic, which wrought havoc in just about every vertical imaginable — and that has encouraged people and organisations to use tech even more.

“It was a wake-up call,” Hashish added. “Everybody now, no matter in what industry, wants to get deeper into the use of technology… understanding how to embrace it the right way.”

alvin@khaleejtimes.com