UAE takes stringent steps to reduce food loss and waste across the emirates

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

ADQ has partnered with ne’ma, the UAE’s National Food Loss and Waste Initiative, to support efforts to reduce food loss and waste across the UAE. The partnership will explore the development of joint initiatives and the collaboration with third parties to reduce food loss across the entire value chain. The partnership also seeks to instil ADQ’s role in enhancing the resilience of the local food system and strengthening its investments in the food and agriculture sector in the UAE and abroad.

As part of the agreement, ADQ and ne’ma will explore the development of joint initiatives, alongside collaboration opportunities with third parties, to reduce food loss across the entire value chain, from production to consumption, and promote responsible consumption habits. ne’ma will also provide ADQ with data identifying food loss hotspots and systemic gaps to address challenges and find solutions.

Mansour AlMulla, Deputy Group Chief Executive Officer at ADQ, said: "As a major investor in the local food and agriculture sector, we believe it is critical to ensure that enabling and upscaling the production of adequate, affordable and nutritious food goes alongside the preservation of food as a precious natural resource. Our partnership with ne’ma reflects our dedication to ensuring that the remarkable activities that ne’ma has brought underway in the past two years receive the attention and community support they need to initiate lasting, fundamental change of the food system here in the UAE."

Khuloud Al Nuwais, Chief Sustainability Officer Emirates Foundation, and Secretary General ne'ma Committee said: "This partnership with ADQ underscores the critical role of public-private sector collaboration in meeting the UAE’s ambitious goal to halve food loss and waste by 2030, aligning with UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.3. Through these partnerships, we are harnessing the most innovative solutions to transform our food systems, ensuring that safeguarding our food resources is at the core of our national food security strategy. By joining hands, we maximize our efforts and create lasting impacts for our communities and our planet."

As food imports are common in the UAE, ADQ’s Food and Agriculture cluster works towards closing supply chain gaps and scaling production sustainably by driving investments in agricultural technology solutions and expanding domestic farming capabilities.

ADQ’s key assets in the sector include Agthia Group, which manufactures and sells essential food and beverage categories; Silal, a company which facilitates the production, sourcing and distribution of essential foods in the UAE; Unifrutti Group, a global producer and distributer of fresh fruit; Louis Dreyfus Company, an international agri-commodities and food company; Lulu Group International, a hypermarket and supermarket chain in the Middle East; and Al Dahra Group, which cultivates, produces and trades animal feed and essential food commodities.