ABU DHABI // The UAE must take the lead in the debate on food security, the former pop star turned development campaigner Sir Bob Geldof says.
Governments and companies alike need to be more open about their overseas investments in farmland, so that full use can be made of it, he told the Gulf Intelligence Food Security Forum.
With the global population expected to reach 9 billion by 2050, concern is rising about how to produce enough food.
In recent years Gulf countries, including the UAE, have been buying land in developing countries to cultivate food crops for their own populations.
However, Sir Bob said that only a small portion of the land bought so far was actually being used to grow food.
"It's criminal that available land that can be properly irrigated and cultivated in a modern sense, where new techniques are tried and taught to local farmers, is not yet put into production," he said.
He called for greater transparency from the region, citing the example of mining industries, for which governments and companies follow a "publish what you pay" policy.
"The UAE must take a leadership role because despite what people think, food is absolutely as vital an issue to the developing and developed world as oil," said Sir Bob, who heads the Band Aid Charitable Trust, an association that helps relieve poverty in Ethiopia.
Nicholas Lodge, the managing partner of Clarity, an Abu Dhabi-based agriculture consultancy, said greater transparency was "definitely a good idea. Transparency shouldn't just be done on a food security basis, and the UAE and more forward-thinking countries in the Arab world are acknowledging and taking active steps towards that," he said.
He said it would be easy, practical and feasible for independent representatives to be installed on company boards and international standards of accounting and reporting to be adopted.
"Necessity is one thing, but there is definitely a genuine desire for greater transparency and I believe we will see more of it in the future."
Saad Benani, managing director of Credit Suisse in Dubai, said new farming technology and new means of financing would help to ensure a secure food supply. Investing in land was vital, he said.
Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, said the UAE needed to understand that addressing food insecurity involved humanitarian relief efforts as well as a strategic approach to development.
It was "staggering" that the number of people suffering from chronic hunger had passed a billion last year, he said.
For the UAE, the biggest challenge is finding a way to guarantee its food supply by investing in land elsewhere.
"At the moment, that's politically a dangerous strategy, but I don't see what other options they have," Sir Bob said. "There is a fundamental food problem in this part of the world."
Water is in short supply, too - 70 per cent of the world's water resources are utilised by agriculture.
"We're not producing enough food and we're running out of land and water," Sir Bob said. "We could possibly replace the land but not the water, and if we do more agriculture more water will be absorbed, and that becomes a problem in itself."
He said modern methods were available to reduce water use, and more efficient scientific techniques for farming were needed in places such as Africa, where 60 per cent of the land was arid.
Sean Evers, the managing partner of the communications firm Gulf Intelligence, said that global prices of commodities such as wheat and corn had tripled in recent years.
Last February, the UN food price index, which measures commodities including meat, dairy, cereals, sugar, and oils and fats, reached an 11-year high.
Since 2000, the index has risen from 90 to 237, and it is expected to increase five times or more in the next three years.
cmalek@thenational.ae
Company%20Profile
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Brief scoreline:
Liverpool 5
Keita 1', Mane 23', 66', Salah 45' 1, 83'
Huddersfield 0
Slow loris biog
From: Lonely Loris is a Sunda slow loris, one of nine species of the animal native to Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore
Status: Critically endangered, and listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list due to growing demand in the global exotic pet trade. It is one of the most popular primate species found at Indonesian pet markets
Likes: Sleeping, which they do for up to 18 hours a day. When they are awake, they like to eat fruit, insects, small birds and reptiles and some types of vegetation
Dislikes: Sunlight. Being a nocturnal animal, the slow loris wakes around sunset and is active throughout the night
Superpowers: His dangerous elbows. The slow loris’s doe eyes may make it look cute, but it is also deadly. The only known venomous primate, it hisses and clasps its paws and can produce a venom from its elbow that can cause anaphylactic shock and even death in humans
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates, Etihad and Swiss fly direct from the UAE to Zurich from Dh2,855 return, including taxes.
The chalet
Chalet N is currently open in winter only, between now and April 21. During the ski season, starting on December 11, a week’s rental costs from €210,000 (Dh898,431) per week for the whole property, which has 22 beds in total, across six suites, three double rooms and a children’s suite. The price includes all scheduled meals, a week’s ski pass, Wi-Fi, parking, transfers between Munich, Innsbruck or Zurich airports and one 50-minute massage per person. Private ski lessons cost from €360 (Dh1,541) per day. Halal food is available on request.
The specs: 2018 Mazda CX-5
Price, base / as tested: Dh89,000 / Dh130,000
Engine: 2.5-litre four-cylinder
Power: 188hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 251Nm @ 4,000rpm
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 7.1L / 100km
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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About Takalam
Date started: early 2020
Founders: Khawla Hammad and Inas Abu Shashieh
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: HealthTech and wellness
Number of staff: 4
Funding to date: Bootstrapped
General%20Classification
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
