IREPfarm is the latest agricultural technology (AgTech) solution to enter the GCC regional market as food security and decreasing reliance on food-stuff imports continues to be a target of GCC economic strategies and visions.
Increasing local food production has become a more pressing issue given the expected number of visitors to the region over the next few years attracted by events such as the Expo 2020 in Dubai, the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar, and the tourism projects in Saudi Arabia, said Kenneth McCrae, chairman of IREP Group.
McCrae said: “In both Saudi Arabia and the UAE, you have a young growing population and tourism is increasing, both of which mean more people and more food requirements so how are you going feed all these people and provide them with water?” Regional government authorities have been supportive and encouraging of IREPfarms, as they are of AgTech solutions in general, said McCrae.
The vertical tower farms under IREPfarms solution come in a pair and a minimum of four towers are needed to be viable, said McCrae. Each tower costs $680,605 (AED2.5 million) and the expected return on investments depends on the crop investors choose to grow and when. The return on investments for five IREPfarms currently being trialed in Abu Dhabi is four years, said McCrae.
Aside from the trial farms in Abu Dhabi – which if successful will lead to the establishment of 30 farms there – IREP is in talks with commercial investors for eight farms in Oman.
“The IGS strategy was geographically to look at Europe, Middle East, and South Asia such as Singapore which is tech-driven and focused on sustainability,” said McCrae.
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