COP28: Deal signed to start work on Dubai ‘giga farm’

COP28: Deal signed to start work on Dubai ‘giga farm’

Dubai’s Food Tech Valley is set to be the future home of a giga vertical farm that can replace 1% of the UAE’s food imports. The food technology hub has signed an agreement at COP28 with ReFarmTM to start building its 900,000 square-foot “GigaFarm” project that can grow two billion crops annually, according to a statement on Wednesday. Construction of the vertical farm is due to begin in the middle of next year and it will be fully functional by 2026. The facility requires no groundwater connection as it will have a self-contained ecosystem designed to reduce water usage and prevent waste going into landfill. It can recycle more than 50,000 tonnes of food waste, while its annual yield is anticipated to be more than three million kilos of fresh produce. Farming towers The site’s vertical farming towers can grow more than 250 varieties of plants, seedlings and saplings, from salads, herbs and leafy greens, through to fruiting crops and tree seedlings, according to Saeed Al Marri, Chairman at SSK Enterprise. “Additionally, no mains or groundwater connection will be required to grow fresh produce since water will be recovered as a by-product from the organic-waste-to-value technology and fed into the