Today's Edition
BATOOL GHAITH (Abu Dhabi)
Agriculture in the UAE is becoming a high-tech field where young Emiratis can play a direct role in strengthening food security, building local businesses and reducing reliance on imports, according to Qadreya Al Awadhi, UAE Youth Agriculture Ambassador.
Al Awadhi has been officially selected as a Youth Ambassador of Agriculture this month, an initiative that empowers young leaders to help shape the future of the UAE's food systems.
The appointment is spearheaded by the UAE Federal Youth Authority in collaboration with the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE).
Al Awadhi said the sector should no longer be viewed simply as traditional farming, but as a space shaped by technology, entrepreneurship and national resilience.
“We must fundamentally shift the narrative that equates agriculture merely with manual labour in the soil,” she said.
For her, that shift is also personal. Growing up around her family’s farm gave her an early understanding of the work involved in taking food from seed to harvest and shaped the way she approached food manufacturing later, as the Founder and CEO of Bumblebee Food, leading provider of ready-made meal plans for babies and toddlers.
She said that experience reinforced her belief in using raw, local ingredients and avoiding unnecessary additives and preservatives, it also influenced Bumblebee Food’s circular model, where ingredients are used as fully as possible to reduce waste, while sourcing directly from UAE farmers helps keep more value within the local economy.
Financial Literacy
As the UAE Youth Agriculture Ambassador, she said that the ambassadorship acts as a vital conduit between the government’s macroeconomic sustainability initiatives and the operational realities of local food manufacturing and agriculture.
“This is a distinct privilege that allows me to serve the nation on a strategic level. It provides a prominent platform to advocate for a resilient domestic food system while actively inspiring the next generation to take a hands-on role in securing the UAE's agricultural future,” Al Awadhi added.
She noted that one of her main priorities as a Youth Agriculture Ambassador is to give young Emiratis the practical and commercial skills needed to enter and lead in the sector.
“Through comprehensive educational platforms like AgriYouth, I aim to deliver tangible training on advanced methodologies, ranging from optimised home farming and plant grafting to the mechanics of precision drip irrigation,” Al Awadhi explained.
Financial literacy is equally important, she said, particularly teaching young people how to calculate agricultural yields, costs and profitability.
Al Awadhi also pointed out that technology can help make agriculture more attractive to the younger generation.
“I intend to engage our youth by positioning the agricultural sector as a cutting-edge frontier driven by advanced technology and data. By demonstrating how automation, analytics, and controlled-environment systems are actively resolving complex food security challenges, we can appeal to their entrepreneurial and technological ambitions,” she added.
Future-Focused Careers in Agritech
This proves that modern agritech is a highly sophisticated and forward-thinking career trajectory, Al Awadhi noted.
For the UAE, she said technologies that improve water efficiency will be particularly important over the coming years.
According to Al Awadhi, precision drip irrigation systems, which deliver calibrated moisture directly to the root zone, are critical for maximising limited water resources.
“When integrated with the high-yield, high-density capabilities of vertical farming and controlled-environment agriculture, these water-efficient frameworks allow us to sustainably scale domestic production independent of external climatic constraints,” she noted.
For food security, Al Awadhi stressed that it extends well beyond farming itself, noting that young Emirati entrepreneurs can also contribute through food manufacturing, logistics, recycling, waste management, biodegradable packaging and technologies that reduce water use in commercial operations.
“Agriculture represents just one component of the broader food security matrix, we must elevate agriculture by showcasing it not only as a commercially viable industry but as a fundamental pillar of national defence and security,” Al Awadhi said.
As the UAE drives toward absolute self-sufficiency, it is important to attract young talent to this mission through integrating specialised agritech education into curriculums and provide robust structural support such as targeted incubation, capital access, and retail placement, she added.
“When young founders recognise that their agricultural startups represent a direct contribution to the UAE's sovereign security and long-term independence, they are far more motivated to invest their ingenuity in the sector,” Al Awadhi said.
Al Awadhi said her experience building Bumblebee Food gave her a clearer understanding of the relationship between local growers, food manufacturers and national food security.
She noted that scaling a food business exposed the vulnerability of global supply chains and reinforced the importance of sourcing locally.
“Ordering directly from local UAE farms is not merely a sustainable or ethical preference, it is a critical strategic imperative that physically insulates our operations from international logistical disruptions,” Al Awadhi said.
She added that local food businesses can also help strengthen domestic agriculture by creating steady demand for UAE-grown produce.
For Al Awadhi, the message to young Emiratis is that agriculture is no longer a narrow or traditional career choice.
“Agriculture is the ultimate arena for systemic problem-solving and national resilience. It is a highly sophisticated sector where their innovative ideas, technological fluency, and leadership can directly safeguard the UAE’s sovereign future,” she said.
