UAE: Dubai’s Expo City Farm shows how to grow fresh and sustainable food in the desert
The farm, which debuted at Cop28, remains open and entrance is free
By Ramola Talwar Badam
The National News
Dec 15, 2023
Excerpt:
More than 30,000 people explored a leafy green farm in the middle of Expo City Dubai during the Cop28 climate summit.
Crowds were drawn to the rows of cucumbers, lettuces and carrots growing on patches of land surrounded by glass and steel buildings in the summit’s Green Zone site, which was open to the public.
There is a lot of interest in understanding what it takes to grow food in the desert
Mai Shalaby, Expo City Farm’s sustainability manager.
Cop28 ministerial delegations, non-government groups and delegates walked around the small farm along with UAE families and children visiting the site.
The Expo City Farm made its debut at Cop28 and will remain as a legacy of the climate summit.
“We just got the numbers and are so happy to find out that we had over 30,000 visitors to the farm,” Mai Shalaby, the farm’s sustainability manager, told The National on Friday.
“These are very exciting numbers and show there is great interest in this space.”
The farm is close to the giant Saudi Expo pavilion that resembles an open book.
It will be open daily during winter festivities at Expo City that will run until January, from 10am to 7pm on Monday to Thursday and until 8pm from Friday to Sunday, with plans to stay open longer. Entry is free.
Guides take visitors on short tours to explain how to grow fresh produce using little water and energising the soil with organic compost.
