Protected agriculture systems in the UAE: challenges and opportunities

Food security is a top priority for sovereign nations. Food production is an integral part of food security and is challenged in arid regions by freshwater scarcity and elevated temperatures. Further, arid regions are increasingly under threat from climate change which has major implications for agriculture. Climate change’s impact on food security has already been observed through reduced yield of staple crops (IPCC, 2014). The IPCC anticipates, with high confidence, key risks for arid environments. These include increased drought frequency and severity, compounded water scarcity, reduced crop productivity and adverse effects on household livelihood and food security (IPCC, 2014). UAE’s economic and political stability create a stable environment for food security. However, the country faces significant challenges with food production. Currently, the country imports around 90% of its food needs. Less than 5% of lands are arable and water scarcity remains a pressing issue (UAE Government, 2021). The Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI) reported in 2015 that open-field and traditional farming systems will be negatively impacted by the increase in temperature in the future. AGEDI emphasized the importance of technology and innovation not only in optimizing production and yield from traditional farming but also in the advancement of alternative agriculture methods including protected agriculture. Protected agriculture systems involve creating artificial conditions within a protected area to provide the optimal environment to produce plants. High-tech greenhouses can provide a much higher yield with significantly lower water requirements. Yet, water and energy requirements to maintain conditions are high and freshwater is limited in this region. This type of agriculture could potentially become a prominent solution, particularly in the UAE, if solutions to reduce inputs are brought. This study presents an analysis of the major challenges of protected agriculture in the UAE and how to solve them. It focuses on the constraints and technological solutions to ensure year-round production with less water and energy uses. According to this investigation, the major constraints to protected agriculture in the UAE are low-tech facilities, extreme heat, and water limitation. The use of high-tech technologies, on the other hand, can provide a solution to overcome these difficulties and increase food security.