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UAE: 50 winners of Sheikh Mansour Agricultural Excellence Award honoured for contributions to sector

Nearly 350 people from all across the country participated, competing in three main categories

Fifty winners of the Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Agricultural Excellence Award 2023 have been announced and awarded for their innovations and dedication to the agricultural sector.

Maryam bint Mohammed Saeed Hareb Al Muhairi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, honoured the award winners at a ceremony held in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.

The organising committee yesterday announced the 50 winners of the award out of a total of 348 participants from different emirates of the country who competed in the three main categories, including 227 participants who competed in the plant category, compared to 121 participants who competed in the animal category.

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. Meanwhile, Abdullah Mohammed Khwaidem won second place for his success in using clean energy to run the farm, and his commitment to using good agricultural practices and biological pest control.

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 won for adopting productive activities with an economic return that maintain sustainability and apply biosecurity requirements to prevent pests and enhance the role of biological control, in addition to participating in internal and external conferences and exhibitions that contribute to improving the level of the farm, and creating different marketing channels to sell the farm's products.

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. He also won for his community outreach through social media to share his breeding expertise with other breeders, while maintaining good records of herd management to help him provide good care for the herd, and an innovative system for spraying toxicants and disinfectants.

The Higher Organising Committee of the award says it will promote the agricultural practices of the winners with the aim of transferring knowledge and exchanging expertise on best agricultural practices that enhance agricultural sustainability and food security in the UAE.

Saeed Al Bahri Al Ameri, Director General of Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority, said: "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, and to enhance the status of agriculture to diversify sources of national income, in addition to progress to be a pioneer and leader in the field of [global] agricultural innovation."

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