Portrait of a Nation: The Syrian who helped spearhead UAE’s agricultural revolution – The National

Portrait of a Nation: The Syrian who helped spearhead UAE’s agricultural revolution – The National

Yahya Al Kodmani arrived in the 1970s after hearing of a man intent on 'greening the desert'. Favourite vegetable: "I really like the taste of thebeetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.". Holiday destination: "I like Paris very much, it's a city very close to my heart.". I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.". His plan was to stay for two years, just long enough to save enough money for a house and car in his native Syria.. More than four decades on, he is still in Al Ain, which, with the help of an agricultural revolution that he played a major part in realising, has become known as the nation's 'Garden City'.. It is hard to see it as anything other than the realisation of Sheikh Zayed's vision of 'greening the desert', which served as such an inspiration to the young agriculture engineering graduate all those decades ago.. The bio farm is helping the UAE become less reliant on food imports and proves large-scale organic crop production in the desert is possible.. "Most of the organic fertiliser was