New partnership between leading entities is aiming to enhance sustainable agriculture in the UAE

A new collaboration amongst prominent organisations seeks to improve sustainable agriculture in the United Arab Emirates through the implementation of extensive vegetable seed trials, farmer capacity building initiatives, and the mitigation of climate change. Leading agri-tech business Silal, a division of ADQ with its headquarters in Abu Dhabi, and Bayer, a pioneer in the life sciences globally, have partnered to improve the nation's agricultural environment.

Together, the two organisations will test over thirty different vegetable seed kinds, such as tomato, cucumber, and melon, to evaluate how they do in the harsh desert environment. The qualities that performed best in the dry circumstances will be determined by scoring, which takes into account the top five traits for each crop. A few of these characteristics are fruit size, yield, resistance to viruses, diseases (such as blossom end rot), and pests (such as flies and mites), early maturity, tolerance to temperature or salinity stress, flavour, and sugar content.

The knowledge gathered from these experiments has two uses: it not only improves agricultural methods in the United Arab Emirates but also informs agricultural practices worldwide, especially in nations dealing with the effects of climate change.