Five winners named for Dh3.5 million Abu Dhabi date palm awards

Abu Dhabi - The winners contribute to the development of the date palm sector and agricultural innovation worldwide.

The winners of the Abu Dhabi date palm award that focuses on agricultural innovation were announced on Wednesday.
A total of Dh3.5 million will be distributed among the five winners in the four categories of the Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation 2020.
Dr Ikram Blilou from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia won the Distinguished Innovative Studies and Modern Technology category for her project "Emergent Protective Organogenesis in Date Palms: A morpho-devo-dynamic adaptive strategy during early development. The Climate-Smart Livelihoods Initiatives and Market Access Tailoring project presented by the America University of Beirut (AUB) in Lebanon, won the Pioneering Development and Productive Projects award. They will receive Dh1 million each.
In the Pioneering and Sophisticated Innovations Serving the Agricultural category, Al Nakhil, a Dubai-based firm, was announced the winner and awarded Dh750,000 for their project, "The impact of using the Subsurface - TERRAPLUS tube (T+) system on irrigation amounts and yield for date cultivation".
The winners of the Influential Figure in the Field of Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation category were Prof Kazuo Shinozaki from Japan and Dr Hasnaa Harrak from Morocco. They will share a cash prize of Dh750,000.
While choosing the winners, the jury looked out for innovations, specifically for arid, desert regions that can be applied in the UAE and the Middle East in general.
"The winners contribute to the development of the date palm sector and agricultural innovation worldwide. We hope that the award will receive more participation in its next session to serve this sector and promote it at all levels," Dr Abdelouahhab Zaid, secretary-general of the award, said after the winners were announced.
The Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation marked in its 12^th session with 141 candidates representing 28 countries around the world.
The five winners will receive their awards during a ceremony at the 7^th Session of the Global Forum for Innovation in Agriculture to be held at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (Adnec) on March 9.
UAE's Outstanding Farmer awards
Organisers of the Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation 2020 announced the names of seven winners of the UAE's outstanding farmers and innovative farms. The Distinguished Farmers and Innovative Farms award consists of four categories and aims at supporting and motivating UAE farmers to develop agricultural services.
Musallam Obaid Al Khales Al Ameri, CEO of Al Foah Company said the award organised by Al Foah Company in cooperation with the General Secretariat of the award, in its third session, attracted 135 farmers with the best and finest date palm plantations in the UAE. The competitions were concentrated in four categories, including small, medium, above-average and large farms, in addition to agricultural innovation.
ismail@khaleejtimes.com

• Abu Dhabi