UAE: Discusses Developing Strategic Stockpile

24/08/2010
Excerpts:

"Food security" in the council headed by Dr. Sulaiman Al Jassim Fujairah
Speakers demanded a strategic stock of the state and fight the culture of consumption and waste

Participants discussed in the Council Ramadan, hosted by Dr. Sulaiman Al Jassim, Director of Zayed University in his house in Fujairah, the subject of food security and strategic motive in the current circumstances, where the speakers stressed the need to develop a strategic stockpile of the state is enough for at least 6 months, and the establishment of an organizational structure to manage the direction of the High Command It was suggested that cooperative societies constitute an effective mechanism for distribution during the crisis, demanding to open branches across the country, and pointed out that the food comes on top of the pyramid of strategic priorities, and drinking water, fuels, pharmaceuticals, and include foodstuffs, wheat, corn, barley, fruits and vegetables , dates, potatoes, onions, meat, fodder and vegetable oils. They said that the ports of the east coast are eligible for the storage of strategic goods in ships freely, and the establishment of silos in the plains.
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He pointed out that there is a study by researchers at the Department of Economic Development in Abu Dhabi warned against the lack of strategic stocks of basic food commodities in the country to face food crises ahead, and monopolistic practices in the local market at which the UAE on imports to secure 85 per cent of the total food needs. That the contribution of agricultural sector in the GDP declining year after year, and that there was the adoption of 100 per cent on the outside to cover the domestic consumption of food commodities, and the value of import of food commodities is a six-fold in terms of agricultural exports amounted to 4.29 billion dirhams in 2007 / 2008 .

He added that the diversification of import sources to Aihakq objectives in the context of pandemics such as bird flu, where it was to stop all imports from 28 countries, and suffered the public from an acute shortage of eggs and chicken prices had gone up significantly.
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He noted that a report of the Abu Dhabi Council for Economic Development called for building a strategic stockpile of food in the UAE, and diversify the sources of import, as the report pointed out that the crisis of rising prices in Abu Dhabi and reached levels in goods between 50 to 60 per cent, which led to increasing complaints the public from rising prices. The report also stated that the State is characterized by special circumstances that make it import absolute priority in achieving food security, as well as promotion of a modern agricultural sector is capable of production in the core subjects, according to the natural conditions of the list. The report predicted that the high value of food imports to 60 billion dirhams by 2011 compared to 3.52 billion dirhams, 2007.
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