The Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority received 621 applications from all emirates of the country, to participate in the second session of the “Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Award for Agricultural Excellence” and the accompanying competitions, including 328 applications to compete for the main award, and 293 applications to participate in the accompanying competitions. The award aims to stimulate the agricultural sector, both plant and animal, and enhance the spirit of positive competition between distinguished farmers and livestock breeders in the country, and highlight their role in achieving agricultural sustainability and food security, and improving the quality of local production.
The award’s organizing committee explained that registration to participate in the main categories of the award closed on December 15, 2023, but registration is still open to participate in the competitions accompanying the award, which include various competitions for the best date product, the best breeds, a milk competition, a weight competition, and a weekly auction. for livestock, in addition to a cooking competition for productive families, which will likely increase the number of participants by the end of this session.
The organizing committee revealed that the Distinguished Farmer and Breeder category accounted for the largest percentage of those registered to participate in the main categories of the award, with a total of 256 participants registered, including 175 participants in the Distinguished Farmer and Plant Section category, and 81 participants in the Distinguished Breeder competition.
The committee pointed out that the category of Best Distinguished Farmer and Breeder captured the attention of women, so 45 women applied to compete for this award, which is being added for the first time in this session, to encourage and honor distinguished women who are making tangible efforts to contribute to enhancing agricultural development in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, so 41 women registered. She participated in the competition for the award for the best farmer in the vegetable sector, and three women participated in the competition for the award for the best breeder in livestock, in exchange for one participant who combined both plant and animal activities.
The committee explained that the Innovation Award, in both its plant and animal parts, is competed for by 23 participants from various emirates of the country, including 17 entries for the plant portion, compared to 6 participants for the animal portion, and as for the commercial farms category, 4 farms compete for it.
As for applicants to participate in the accompanying competitions, the number of participants in the competition for the best breeds of livestock reached 148 participants, and in the competition for the best weights 72 participants from the country and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, and in the competition for the best milk production 66 participants, and 9 participants in the competition for awareness and promotion of the award.
The specialized committees are scheduled to begin the technical and field evaluation phase, which consists of visiting the qualified farms to evaluate them according to the criteria and conditions of the award set by a specialized technical committee that includes experts and technicians in the field of agriculture, both its plant and animal aspects, in addition to agricultural innovation.
The candidates who qualify for the final stage will be announced after the initial evaluation results are approved, and then the winners will be honored on March 5, 2024, during a closing ceremony in the presence of all award participants.
The value of the prizes awarded by the award in its second session amounts to more than 10 million dirhams, divided among participants in the main categories of the award, participants in a number of accompanying competitions, within the activities of the “Sheikh Zayed Festival” in the Al Wathba area, and participants in a number of festivals organized within the framework of the prize.
The main categories of the award are divided into four categories, the first category includes eight sub-categories for the distinguished farmer and breeder, and four awards are allocated to the plant category categories, which are the award for the best farm in the field of open agriculture, the best farm for greenhouse farming, and the best farm in fruit production. And the best organic farm. Four other awards are allocated to the animal category, including the productive estates category, the small producers category, the beekeepers category, and the aquaculture category.
The second category is dedicated to agricultural innovation and includes two awards: The first is for agricultural and plant innovation, and the other is for innovation in animal production. The third category is allocated to commercial farms, and includes two awards: One is for commercial plant farms, and the other is for commercial animal production farms. A new fourth category was added for the best distinguished female farmer and educator, and includes two awards: One for the best distinguished farmer, and the other for the best distinguished educator, with the aim of highlighting the role of women in the agricultural field and their contribution to strengthening the food security system.
This year, the award includes 9 various festivals, and 21 of the competitions accompanying the award, distributed among 62 sub-competitions, and includes the competition for the best product of dates, the competition for the best palm-processed products, the competition for the best Dar fruit basket, the competition for the best fig basket, and the competition for the best sidr fruits. The live cooking competition, the best animal and marine food processing products competition, the best dairy product competition, in addition to livestock competitions and the awareness and promotional competition.
It is noteworthy that the “Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Award for Agricultural Excellence” is one of the leading initiatives to stimulate agricultural innovation, celebrate distinguished farmers and livestock breeders at the state level, support food security, consolidate the concepts of agricultural sustainability, and support the application of the best international practices to improve the agricultural sector and ensure the sustainability of resources. .
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