Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority (ADAFSA) has honoured the winners of the inaugural Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Agricultural Excellence Award at the Sheikh Zayed Festival in Al Wathba. Ms. Maryam bint Mohammed Saeed Hareb Al Muhairi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, attended the ceremony to honour the winners of the first edition of the award.
The ceremony was attended by Sheikh Ahmed bin Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Nahyan, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Agricultural Club, Chairman of the Emirates Kiteboarding Committee, and the Emirates Sup and Surf Committee, Dr. Mughir Khamis Al Khaili, Chairman of the Department of Community Development – Abu Dhabi, Mr. Saeed Al Bahri Al Ameri, Director General of the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority, and Mr. Humaid Saeed Al Neyadi, Director of the Private Office of Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed.
The organising committee recently announced 50 winners of the award out of a total of 348 participants from different emirates of the country who competed in the three main categories of the award, including 227 participants who competed in the plant category, compared to 121 participants who competed in the animal category.
Mr. Saeed Al Bahri Al Ameri commented that “I am delighted to attend the closing ceremony of the first session of the Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Agricultural Excellence Award and to honour the winners of its valuable prizes, including farmers, breeders, commercial farms, and outstanding innovators.”
“The Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Agricultural Excellence Award is a sincere expression of our wise leadership’s interest in the agricultural renaissance in the UAE and confirms its keenness to encourage creativity and innovation and to rely on the development of knowledge and excellence as a basis for progress and enhance the status of agriculture to diversify sources of national income, in addition to positive changes that bring us all good and progress and make us a pioneer and leader in the field of agricultural innovation in the world,” the Director-General added.
In addition, Mr. Al Ameri noted that the first edition of the award succeeded in attracting a large constellation of distinguished farmers, livestock breeders, commercial farms, beekeepers, and honey producers in different emirates of the country, in addition to many productive families, bringing the total number of participants in the award and its related competitions to about 832 participants.
The ADAFSA Director-General further congratulated all the winners of the Agricultural Excellence Awards, praising their hard work and perseverance in this vital and important sector for our economy and society, and urging them to continue to innovate and dedicate themselves to the agricultural sector, improve productivity and quality levels, and continue to achieve success and excellence in the future.