Sector Overview
The UAE confronts food security challenges that are structurally unique among advanced economies. The federation imports approximately 90 percent of its food requirements, operates in an arid climate with extreme summer temperatures exceeding 50 degrees Celsius, possesses minimal freshwater resources and limited arable land, and faces supply chain vulnerabilities that were starkly exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. These conditions have driven the UAE to approach food security not as a conventional agricultural policy matter but as a national strategic priority on par with defence and energy.
The establishment of the Emirates Food Security Council, the appointment of a Minister of State for Food and Water Security, and the National Food Security Strategy 2051 reflect the institutional seriousness with which the federation addresses this challenge. The strategy targets reducing food waste by 50 percent, increasing domestic food production through technology-enabled agriculture, diversifying import sources, and building strategic food reserves sufficient to buffer against supply disruptions.
Key Players
ADQ, the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, has emerged as the federation’s primary institutional investor in food security through its portfolio companies. Silal, an ADQ subsidiary, manages a network of controlled-environment agriculture facilities, food distribution infrastructure, and strategic food reserves across Abu Dhabi. Al Dahra Holding, another ADQ-linked entity, operates international farmland and animal feed operations across more than 20 countries, securing upstream agricultural supply for the UAE market. Agthia Group, listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, is the UAE’s largest food and beverage company, operating across water, flour, animal feed, dairy, and snack foods.
Al Ain Farms operates integrated dairy and poultry production facilities that supply the domestic market. Emirates Food Industries and National Food Products Company (NFPC) are major domestic food manufacturers and distributors. Pure Harvest Smart Farms, a UAE-based agri-tech company, operates high-tech greenhouses producing tomatoes and leafy greens in the Gulf’s extreme climate, demonstrating the commercial viability of controlled-environment agriculture in arid environments. Madar Farms focuses on vertical farming and insect protein production.
The UAE’s aquaculture sector is expanding, with investment in fish farming operations in Abu Dhabi, Fujairah, and offshore facilities designed to reduce the federation’s dependence on imported seafood.
Regulatory Environment
The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment oversees national agricultural policy, food safety standards, and environmental regulation. The Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority (ADAFSA) regulates food production, import, and safety within the emirate. Dubai Municipality enforces food safety standards within Dubai. The National Food Security Strategy 2051 provides the overarching policy framework, while individual emirates implement local agricultural development programmes. The UAE has invested in food traceability systems using blockchain technology, enabling supply chain transparency from farm to consumer. Import regulations are coordinated through the GCC Standards Organization (GSO) for common product standards across the Gulf.
Growth Drivers
Climate change and global supply chain disruptions are intensifying the strategic case for domestic food production investment. Advances in controlled-environment agriculture, including vertical farming, hydroponics, and aeroponics, are making commercial-scale food production viable in the UAE’s extreme climate. The federation’s position as a food re-export hub for the Middle East and Africa creates logistics and processing infrastructure that supports domestic production. Government procurement programmes for locally produced food, including school meal programmes and military catering, provide guaranteed demand. International farmland acquisitions by ADQ and Al Dahra secure upstream supply diversification beyond market-based imports.
Challenges
Water scarcity is the binding constraint on conventional agriculture, with the UAE’s aquifer resources under severe stress from decades of extraction for date palm cultivation and fodder crop irrigation. Energy costs for desalination, greenhouse cooling, and controlled-environment agriculture are significant, though declining with the deployment of solar-powered systems. The economics of domestic food production remain challenging for many crop categories compared to imports from land-rich, water-rich agricultural exporters in Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
Attracting talent to agricultural technology and farm management roles is difficult in an economy where services sector employment dominates and where the outdoor working environment is extreme for much of the year. Scale limitations mean the UAE will remain structurally dependent on food imports regardless of domestic production gains, making supply chain resilience and strategic reserves essential complements to any production strategy. Climate change itself presents a paradox: while it intensifies the urgency of food security investment, it also makes domestic agricultural production more difficult as temperatures rise and water resources diminish.
Vision 2031 Targets
The We the UAE 2031 framework targets meaningful increases in domestic food production through technology-enabled agriculture, reduction of food waste by 50 percent, diversification of import sources to reduce dependence on any single supplier or corridor, establishment of strategic food reserves sufficient for at least six months of essential commodity consumption, and positioning the UAE as a global hub for agri-tech innovation and investment.
The National Food Security Strategy 2051 provides the longer-term trajectory, with 2031 milestones focused on infrastructure buildout and technology deployment. Specific targets include expanding aquaculture production to reduce seafood import dependency, developing the date palm industry as an exportable agricultural product, and establishing the UAE as a regional centre for food technology research and commercialisation.
Investment Outlook
The agriculture and food security sector offers investment opportunities in controlled-environment agriculture technology, vertical farming operations, aquaculture, food processing and value addition, cold chain and food logistics infrastructure, food traceability technology, alternative protein production, and precision agriculture solutions. The sector benefits from strong sovereign capital commitment through ADQ’s portfolio and explicit government prioritisation of food security. The agri-tech segment is particularly dynamic, with UAE-based ventures attracting international venture capital and technology partnerships. Investors should recognise that this sector is driven primarily by strategic necessity rather than conventional agricultural economics, meaning government policy support and procurement guarantees are critical to commercial viability in most subsectors.