Rising To The Food Security Challenge

Written By: Dhwani Laddha

Editor’s note: The following information is derived from the World Food Security Forum, MENA that was hosted on 16th November 2020. Agritecture’s Founder & CEO, Henry Gordon-Smith, was a speaker at this esteemed Forum.

With the global pandemic at large, disrupting supply chains, and highlighting the many weaknesses of our food systems, all eyes are shifting towards strategies that will help pave the way to a sustainable and safe food supply. The World Food Security Forum is one such platform that is tackling this global crisis by bringing together policymakers, industry leaders, entrepreneurs, innovators, and academics for thought-provoking discussions on the subject. And, where better to host this Forum than in the UAE? As addressed by Her Excellency Mariam bint Mohammed Saeed Hareb Al Almheiri, the UAE Minister of State for Food Security, in her opening address, “the pandemic has exasperated what was already a difficult situation in the MENA region”, giving the UAE a chance to proactively introduce smart initiatives and policies to prepare for the challenge through investment, innovation, and technology.

As rightly pointed out by the Minister of State for Food Security, “this platform has never been as important as it is now”. She furthered this by claiming that we should now hold “AgTech as the central pillar of the national food security policy, to ensure that technologically-grown food” can enable us to “build human capacity, encourage the youth to enter the agtech field, and enable us [the UAE] to become a hub for the agtech world”. Before taking on the challenge, however, we must adapt a “holistic approach to the nexus” such as “clean energy desalination techniques to reduce the environmental impact of the water going to agriculture”, and “improving the consumer’s relation with food with the ‘Stop the Waste’ campaign”.

Strategy Panel Discussion - Shifting Governance and Economic Landscape to Enhance Sustainable Local Food and Agriculture Systems

This first panel considered the range of new approaches needed to scale up high impact technologies, the road map to building financing, and global governance.

H.E. Eng. Jamal Al Dhaheri, CEO of Silal Food & Technology, brought up the pandemic’s impact on supply chains, claiming that the coronavirus outbreak “forced every country and every government to push for self-sufficiency”. He furthered this by focusing in on the UAE’s efforts to provide a wide variety of local and fresh produce, where he envisions the path forward to be “robust crop planning in terms of consumer and market demand, investing in agritech technologies, optimizing market needs, and access to the sellers market”. Here, it is essential to establish commitments for coordination between national organizations and local farmers, whilst conducting feasibility studies of crops to achieve the highest impact possible.

From the investment perspective, Mr. Mohammed Al Falasi, President of Investments & Business Group of Jenaan Investment LLC, shone a light on the need for “local authorities to provide more information for investors to understand the consumer and market demands” in order to enable them “to see a long term plan and to visualize where the government is headed”. He claimed increased legislation to be essential to “having a fair competition, that will make it easier for investors to enter the market and make investments”. 

Discussion – Challenging Established Food Systems to be more Resilient, Fairer and Less Harmful to the Planet

In relation to the region’s grave water scarcity concerns, this second panel focused on fast-tracking water-smart food production so as to rely on innovations to reduce water use. Here, Dr. Abdulmonem Mohamed Al Marzooqi, CEO of Elite Agro, claimed that “we can feed the 9 billion people on the planet with smart climate agriculture” whilst tackling climate change and continuing to support farmers.

In support of this argument, Mr. David Farquhar, CEO of Intelligent Growth Solutions, spoke about vertical farming systems that not only increase yield by 15% and drastically reduce our food and carbon footprint, but also reuse water, funneling it back into the system after being cleaned. He added that “without excellent quality produce, there is no point in farming at all”, and “what we grow needs to be economically competitive” to be attractive to consumers. Said this, much like Agritecture’s philosophy, Mr. Farquhar added that there is a “need to be honest and have a balance of technologies because there is no one answer”.

Policy Dialogue - Innovation, Water, and Global Food Security

This third panel considers how policy can play a hand in feeding a global population by strengthening water governance regimes, investing in improved water management, and promoting access to safe drinking water, and the sustainable utilisation of our water resources.

Here, Dr. Mahmoud El Solh, Steering Committee Member of CFS High Level Panel of Experts, and Former DG at ICARDA, reflects that “water is a stress source, particularly in dry areas”. “By 2050, the per capita water availability is expected to decrease by 25%, giving us increased reasoning to efficiently use water, particularly in our agriculture as it uses around 70%”. In combating this concern, he considers critical policy shifts like “inviting political support for agriculture at a national scale”, “strengthening the extension to farmers”, and “encouraging the sustainable intensification of production systems and use of agro-ecology to preserve the ecosystem”.

Dr. Sasha Koo-Oshima, Deputy Director of Land and Water Division at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (UN FAO), adds that “water is at the root of this problem”. It is a challenge that will only grow with climate change and increased water demand from a growing population”. She claims that “2050 will require 50% more food than 2012, yet we have already limited our frontiers”, thus, we need to “call for profound change in our food systems”. Here, she refers to the need to reuse treated wastewater, and recover valuable nutrients for our soils because “food loss and waste is not a luxury that we can afford”.

Discussion – Staying Ahead of the Curve with Digital Transformation in AgTech

This fourth panel addressed means to build a resilient food system with the agility to react to crisis, focusing on energy-efficiency, and AI and automation.

Mr. Andre Laperriere, Executive Director of the Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN), started the discussion by claiming that “producing more and reducing waste are equally important”. He sheds light on the agricultural economy that “until recently agriculture was seen as a linear industry, but now, we’re trying to implement a circular structure” whereby “resources can be reinvested into the system” to “maximize productivity and output”.

Mr. Allan Herbert, Vice President of Business Development and Strategy at Nanoracks, furthers this discussion by reflecting on the 18 food experiments in space (one of them growing a palm tree in zero-gravity), thinking of it to be “an opportunity to help feed the world and continue harsh environment research and closed-environment agriculture”. This is “a regenerative system where everything has to be used up, recycled, and reused”, forcing us to “do farming in a whole different way”.

Debate – Anchoring an Inclusive Growth Model: While Food Security Still Remains the Focus for Most Policymakers. How can we Food Systems for Affordable Nutritional Diets and Reducing Waste?

This final debate helped connect all the varied conversations by allowing for thought-provoking arguments and reflection. Agritecture’s Henry Gordon-Smith started the debate by claiming that “commercial farms tend to provide premium products. This isn’t what we want, there is definitely room to make CEA-produce affordable”. He continued by speaking on education as a “critical element in not only advancing food security, but also in reducing waste”. Using Teens for Food Justice as proof of this, he added how agricultural studies that teach students how to build, manage, and eat from farms, has enabled “more attendance in schools with higher grades and engagement”, particularly in the context of marginalized communities. Working with these two concepts in mind will help agriculture be made more affordable, accessible, and scalable. 

David Rosenburg, CEO of AeroFarms, adds to the debate by focusing on the need for the industry to “adopt new technologies to avoid spoilage” in order to “get food to stay around and not go to landfill”. Additionally, Sudhakar Tomar, Chairman of the Board at Hakan Agro DMCC, claims that we, as a society, need to “switch focus from animal agriculture to plant-based agriculture as a means to reduce food waste in the greater ecosystem, not just waste from our tables or from farm to fridge”. 

Such invigorating panels are getting us excited for Agritecture Xchange’s 3-day virtual conference. Henry Gordon-Smith will be giving his keynote address on “How Entrepreneurship is Fostering a New Age for Climate-Smart Agriculture” on December 1st. Join us for this conference connecting key innovations in the field of AgTech to the future health of our cities.