His Excellency Dr. Rashid Ahmad bin Fahad, the Minister of Environment and Water, inaugurated Dubai's first market for organic products in the United Arab Emirates. The opening the market, is a part of the ministry’s strategic efforts to achieve food security and safety , by entrenching the culture of organic products consumption and farming in the UAE society. The market aims to promote healthy alternative products that are produced by sustainable methods to ensure the protection and sustainability of the environment.
His Excellency Dr. Rashid Ahmad Bin Fahad said that the Emirati experience in organic agriculture is promising despite its young implementation if compared with developed countries in the agricultural field. The Ministry of Environment and Water adopted -several years ago- the dissemination, promotion, and development of organic agriculture, as a modern agricultural production concept in the country, and worked on providing support by all means for it to succeed.
Bin Fahad, emphasized that the ministry has made great efforts in the field of organic farming, where farmers were encouraged to use organic fertilizers and pesticides, it also communicated with scientific organizations and centers and other institutions working in organic farming to organize the production and marketing of organic products. In addition, a legislative bill that is related to organic products was passed, including a law draft on organic inputs and products. The market will have working hours only during Fridays and Saturdays, until the soft opening period ends. His Excellency stressed that the culmination of all these efforts was the establishment of the organic products market in the UAE, in partnering with Dubai Municipality at the Hamriyah Fish Market in order to build a direct relationship between the producer and the consumer without the use of a broker, which shall enhances consumer confidence in buying the product.
From his part, His Excellency Engineer Saif Mohammed Al-Shara’, the Assistant Undersecretary for Agricultural and Livestock Affairs, said that organic farming has many benefits, such as maintaining the soil, increasing soil fertility by adding organic fertilizer such as nitrogen, as well as maintaining the natural cycles of nutrients, and the protection of agricultural crops by following a crop rotation system .
His Excellency added that organic farming began to take an increasing interest in the country, compared to other developed countries in this field. The space allocated for organic farming will be around 1000 hectares by the end of this year. Many local farmers allocate spaces in their own farms for the cultivation of organic products without the use of fertilizers or chemical pesticides.
His Excellency reassured that the public must ensure that the formal trademark logo adopted by the ministry for approved organic products (Organic), must be indicated on the organic product label, in order to avoid fraud. It should be noted that organic farms production is approved through a collaboration process between the Ministry of Environment and Water and the Emirates Authority for Standardization and Metrology.