Programme announced on the International Day of Happiness to support the `Year of Giving' initiative launched by the President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan

Includes guaranteed buy-back of produce and scientific farming advise to farmers; Phase I to span four Northern Emirates catering to 3,000 farms

Ras Al Khaimah/Dubai, March 21, 2017

In a pioneering initiative, the UAE-based Utico, Middle East’s largest private utility, unveiled a new sustainable farm support programme, the key elements of which include free water supply to the UAE farmers, guaranteed buy-back of their produce and scientific advisory services.

The programme  rolled out at an event  held by the Environment Protection and Development Authority (EPDA), Ras Al Khaimah, to mark the International Day of Happiness on March 20 2017 will support the `Year of Giving Initiative’ launched by the President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

“The programme is very much in line with ensuring happiness of farmers and will contribute to the UAE’s food security initiatives,” said Dr. Saif Al Ghais, Director General of EPDA at the event attended by many farmers.

In its first phase, the programme will span the Northern Emirates catering to an estimated 3,000 farms across Ras Al Khaimah, Umm Al Qwain, Ajman and Sharjah. Utico said the free water supply and farm support initiatives will be extended to other emirates in the second phase.

“The programme will address the water supply issues, and the expert advisory Utico will provide will help farmers increase production through incorporating scientific farming methods that are found to work well in arid conditions,” Mr. Richard Menezes, Managing Director of Utico said.

He said the International Day of Happiness and the `Year of Giving’ initiative of the UAE went hand-in-hand and presented the right opportunity for Utico to launch the programme.

“We are already working with Federal Electricity and Water Authority (FEWA) and Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority (SEWA). The programme can be implemented in any farm location where Utico, FEWA or SEWA network is available and accessible,” Mr. Richard said.

The service will be provided with mutual consents of all parties and can be accessed by farmers by sending a mail to a SustainFarm@Utico.com,

Under the programe, farmers will be categorized into two sections - farms owned and tilled and commercial farms.  These sections will be subdivided further to ensure maximum effectiveness. There are two programme options - free water with produce buy-back, or water purchase which starts with the lowest water tariff in the UAE of 1.8fils/Gallon.

“Farmers who support and sustain the foundation of food chain in a society need to be supported and encouraged. In a water scarce and starved region as the UAE, it becomes all the more important that in the `Year of Giving,’ and on the occasion of the International Day of Happiness, we should focus more on the happiness of farmers,” Mr. Richard said.

Utico’s programme will help farmers increase produce, reduce or remove subsidy on the state and increase the farmers’ income.  

Farmers will be given advice on incorporating sustainable farming techniques designed by Utico and have been implemented by the company during the past three years. Utico will work towards ensuring responsible farming by providing extensive knowledge and expertise to ensure farmers are successful and satisfied and have long-term certainty of guaranteed income.

“As in any area of life, certainty is an important part of a farmer’s outlook. The buy-back programme will be insured as well and will include deployment of farming and crop expertise from around the world like Australia, India, Europe, Thailand and the US,” Mr. Richard said.

About 95% of  the UAE’s food needs are imported and farming generally include animal husbandry and livestock, other than agricultural farm produce,  About 80% of the UAE farming comprise date cultivation with about one crop a year.  According to Utico, there is ample scope for many crops that can add greater value with water being available.

Mr. Richard also stated that the programme will help improve barren land prices and more food production in the UAE which will lead to better and fresher quality of produce as well as farm-to-home and farm-to-store system lowering the carbon footprint extensively. “The overall UAE economy will improve as well as certain crops in the coming years will have potential for export in one form or other. There could also be integration of upstream and downstream segments, for instance from farm-to-food manufacturing sector leading to greater economic growth,” Mr. Richard said.

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About Utico
The UAE-based Utico is Middle East’s   largest full service private utility. The company also qualifies as a major full service utilities provider in the greater Middle East region. It is also one of the leading green companies in the UAE, as the only company to have obtained ISO 50001 certification for Energy management from Quality Austria. One of the 27 companies of the RMB group and brother concern of Abu Dhabi-based US$2.8 billion Ghantoot Group, Utico is also a leading utility, infrastructure developer & EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contractors in the country. The company is ISO certified having ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004 and OHSAS 18001:2007.Incorporated in 2005 in Ras Al Khaimah, Utico’s business operation includes generation, transmission, distribution, billing, collection and customer service. It also designs, engineer, procures, install, test and commission water desalination and power generation plants.

For more information please contact
Jayakrishnan Bhaskaran 
+971 55 9578237

© Press Release 2017