UAE Business: Masdar City and Dana sign MoU to advance food security – Gulf Digital News

UAE Business: Masdar City and Dana sign MoU to advance food security – Gulf Digital News

Masdar City and Dana will advance food security at the national level, contribute to agritech sustainability and support the UAE in meeting key objectives in line with the National Food Security Strategy 2051.

Under a Memorandum of Understanding, Masdar City, the regional home of technology innovation and R&D in Abu Dhabi, and Dana, the Abu Dhabi-based venture builder and investment platform which supports women-led startups across the sectors of agritech, energy and water solutions and circular economy, will build its first Abu Dhabi-based beta site in Masdar City.

When completed, the site will consist of 1,700 sq m of greenhouses, net houses, and open field farming, displaying diverse approaches to the sustainable production of crops in the desert.

Developing solutions

Furthermore, the beta site will focus on developing solutions with potential to overcome water scarcity, irrigation, greenhouse cooling, and soil cultivation and regeneration challenges, as well as testing the resilience of new seed varieties.

With many startups already submitting applications to test at Masdar City, construction is set to begin in July 2022 and full-time operations are set to start by Q4 this year.

The beta site will test the feasibility of early stage agritech projects that can be developed and piloted in Abu Dhabi. The