Al Rawdah pumps AED120mn into Liwa farm to boost UAE’s food security

Dubai / Emirates Business

Emirates Modern Poultry Co. (Al Rawdah), the first poultry farm in the UAE to receive the ‘Halal’ certificate from Emirates Authority for Standardization and Metrology (ESMA), announced that it is investing AED 120 million as an initial investment in its new farm in Abu Dhabi’s Liwa area. With this investment, Al Rawdah will ensure further commitment to the UAE’s food security, sustainable development and the development of the local famers’ skills through adopting best practices, which in turn supports the UAE’s strategy of self-reliance and sufficiency in the food sector.
The announcement was made during a press conference held at the Fairmont on Dubai’s Sheikh Zayed Road on Sunday. During the press conference, Al Rawdah signed the official build-up contract with LAE-Anlagenbau GmbH (for manufacturing production machinery), Amandus Kahl GmbH & Co. KG (for designing and building feed mills), and Prompt Contracting LLC (for contractual works).
Phase 1 of Liwa has already started, and with the completion of the whole project, a major step will be taken in food security concerns as the farm production will reduce Al Rawdah’s reliance on imported hatching eggs by 50% thus boosting UAE’s food security and creating an ecosystem for sustainable production. The farm will follow global best practice where animal welfare and environmental considerations take centre stage. The 5 million m2 Liwa farm will house parent stock comprised of 6 hen houses with 7,000 birds in each. It will also include a feed mill built to cater to the needs of local farmers’ livestock as well.
Present at the conference, Al Rawdah’s top management team also highlighted the healthy growth that the poultry farm has seen in its overall operations in 2015 compared to 2014. The rise in net profits coincides with increasing turnover and sales growth for the operation. Turnover hit AED 180 million in 2015, with a 10% increase in sales expected for 2016. At the same time, Al Rawdah is pursuing internal efficiencies and driving excellence in all operations. A reduction in imports will result in a 20% operating cost reduction.
“We are very proud to announce the launch of our new Liwa facility, which will be of tremendous long-term benefit to both Al Rawdah’s operations and the UAE’s poultry sector. The country as a whole will benefit from increased food security and sustainable development through a state of the art facility that can produce its own eggs, hatch its own chicks and guarantee long-term sustainability and excellence. It gives us the capacity to house more poultry in world-class conditions to meet market demand,” said Al Rawdah’s Chairman Abdalla Al Owais while speaking at the event.
“We are very excited about the impact of our new Liwa project on our business. The project will drive revenues and help us meet market demand. As well as help us reduce operating costs by generating our own electricity, reducing waste generation and water use, and limiting our reliance on imports. The Liwa farm will power Al Rawdah’s growing market share and strong net profit trends, and will also set new performance benchmarks for the local industry to follow,” said Al Rawdah’s Vice Chairman Abdulla Al Qubaisi during the event.
“Al Rawdah remains committed to operational excellence. Our Liwa project helps us drive key improvements across three core areas that are key to our success – market growth, reducing resource use, and ensuring animal welfare. We have made significant strides across all these operational pillars. The Liwa farm will offer us state of the art facilities in which to grow, while helping us control operational costs and providing ideal conditions designed to maximise animal health and well-being,” said Al Rawdah’s CEO Dr El Rashid Dafalla.
Al Rawdah was the first poultry farm in the Middle East to be accredited with a HACCP accreditation, and has since followed that up with ISO 14001:2004 and ISO 22000/2005 certifications. Al Rawdah has been recognised as a Superbrand in 2013 to 2016 consecutively and has also won the 20th Golden Trophy for Food & Beverages in Germany. Moreover, the Dubai poultry farm has seen a lot of development in terms of renewable energy. A pilot project is now being executed through the trial of solar panels in a quest to align with the UAE’s strategy of diversifying towards renewable energy sources. With such direction, Al Rawdah aims to rely on renewable energy for 60% of its operations over the next 5 years.