Meet the Farmers Conference is an annual conference aimed at promoting and supporting agribusiness partnerships between Africa and the GCC. It encourages technology innovation in the agricultural value chain and provides a platform for agro trade between both regions. The theme of the conference this year, ‘Creating a Sustainable Future; Food Security | Trade | Technology’ is anchored on sustaining food production, facilitating inter-regional trade and promoting technology in agriculture.

This year’s conference was largely attended by African farmers, exporters, investors, distributors, policymakers, logistics companies, and trade agencies. Standardization bodies, agricultural advocates, exhibitors, off-takers from the GCC, and participants from different countries were all present.

The conference opened with a welcome address delivered by Bola Oyedele, Managing Director Crenov8, and was followed by a keynote speech from the office of the UAE Ministry of Economy represented by H.E. Juma Al Kait, Assistant Undersecretary- Foreign Affairs of the Ministry of Economy, UAE. He expressed the UAE’s interest in trading with Africa and encouraged farmers to capitalize on this opportunity and export food to the GCC.

Next was a presentation on ‘How Logistics can help Improve Agricultural Trade in Africa’ by Adekunle Oyinloye, Group Managing Director -SIFAX Group, Gold sponsors of the conference. Omar Khan, Director of International Offices at Dubai Chamber of Commerce spoke on ‘How Dubai is Advancing Trade Relations with Africa’. He described MTFC as a conference that exposes Agribusinesses in Africa to opportunities in the UAE. He also stressed that the Dubai Chamber is willing to support agribusinesses and other organizations looking to set up business in Dubai.

The conference featured other presentations and panel sessions by agro experts across Africa, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Topics ranged from ‘Ways to Create a Sustainable Future in Agriculture’ to the ‘Opportunities in Agricultural Value Chain’. Some of the panelists for both sessions include Kenneth Obiajulu, Managing Director – Farmcrowdy, Ademola Akinyemi – CEO Farmcenta, Alok Bhargava – MD Praramb Agri-Trading DMCC, Dennie Beach – President Go Africa LLC, Schlueter – President Doehler MENA and Adekunle Oyinloye – Group MD of SIFAX Group. This was followed by breakout meetings and B2B networking sessions.

Day Two

After an engaging time on the first day of the conference, the second day was lit with expectant faces and high-level networking had started in the conference hall already, The full proceedings of the day began with a presentation by Dr Abdulkareem Muhammad Al Amri, CEO Hail Agriculture Consultancy. He spoke on the ‘Role of Africa in Supporting UAE Food Security’. Highlighting the major African-produced food crops that are in demand in the UAE,  he encouraged farmers to cultivate for export as there is a huge market ready to absorb same in the UAE. His speech was succeeded by a presentation on ‘Food Trade in the UAE’ by Joachim Yebouet, CEO Foodco Holdings, one of the largest FCMGs engaged in food processing and distribution in the UAE. This presentation focused on the role Africa has to play to ensure the sustained distribution and availability of food for the UAE’s teeming population.

Other highlights of the event included two-panel sessions and a presentation underlining the Standards and Requirement for Food Importation into the UAE, How to deal with the Agricultural Challenges in Africa and the Agribusiness Opportunities in Africa.

MTFC 2019 Innov8Agric Challenge

The Conference this year also featured the second edition of Innov8Agric Challenge. This year, we received over a thousand applications with various innovative Agritech ideas from across Africa. The finalists, Acquahmeyer Ghana, AgriGo Rwanda and Lentera Africa pitched at the grand finale held at MTFC 2019. At the end of an exciting pitch session, Lentera Africa emerged winner of this year’s Innov8Agric Challenge. The CEO, Moses Kimani was awarded the sum of $5000 grand prize and other incentives that came with the Innov8Agric Prize.

Other Awardees at MTFC 2019 include;

• The Most Impactful Networking Group – UAE AFRICA NETWORKING GROUP
• Business Excellence Award – GO AFRICA 
• Company of the Year – SIFAX GROUP 
• Sustainable Company of the Year – WEBCOR GROUP
• Best Innovative Company of the Year – ADVANTA SEEDS
• Excellence in Investment Promotion – FEDERAL MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT (FMARD Nigeria)
• Trade excellence Award – MINISTRY OF ECONOMY, UAE

The post Event Review: Meet the Farmers Conference (MTFC) 2019 appeared first on MTFC | Meet The Farmers Conference - Nov 2019 - Dubai UAE.

Documentation

To import goods from another country into the United Arab Emirates, you will be required to submit the following original documents

• • Commercial Invoice: document is to be issued to the importer detailing total quantity, goods description and total value of each item.
  • Certificate of Origin: This is a document that states the country of origin for your goods and this must be approved by your country’s Ministry of Commerce. This certificate is needed for every product you want to export.
  • Health Certificate: This is a proof that the goods have been prepared and shipped under sanitary conditions and are fit for human consumption.
  • Food Safety Inspection Service Certificate: It ensures that meat and poultry products were slaughtered and processed in accordance to the health regulations.
  • Packing List: It is a list that contains the method of packing the shipment. You will have to provide detailed information on the goods, including the weight and code number.
  • Import Permit: Obtain permission of importation from competent agencies in case you encounter restriction on goods.
  • Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Phytosanitary Certificate: The certificate is issued only if your goods have been inspected and properly tested to ensure Phytosanitary regulations of the goods e.g. products like lentils, rice, grains, fresh fruits, vegetables, etc. Don’t be scared, the big word stands for measures taken to protect humans, animals and plants from diseases, pests or contaminations.

NOTE: Original certificates must accompany shipment at the time of entry since it carries details of the shipment.

Next, you must ensure that your shipments are properly labelled with the following information:

• Product description
• Ingredients
• Country of Origin
• Net weight
• Cartons of fresh fruits and vegetables must contain label information but you mustn’t include the expiry dates.
  

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See Also: Leveraging on Meet The Farmers Conference for Agricultural Business Funds

Other Requirements:

Attach the following certificates to food items for exportation to UAE:

• A health certificate is to be issued by exporter country to ascertain that the food items are healthy for consumption.
• A Halal slaughter certificate is needed from a UAE approved Islamic Center and authorized by the UAE Embassy/Consulate.
• Dubai Municipality approval letter
• Importer’s license to Trade
• Bill of Entry or Airway Bill
• Packing list
• Commercial Invoice
• Delivery Order (addressed to the Customs Department stating the description of the carrier and the cargo and stating to whom the cargo is to be delivered).
• Country of Origin Certificate

“The exporter is required to pay a commercial invoice legalization fee (this is 1% of consignment value) on all imported products.”

Also note that the import of alcoholic beverages are strictly controlled in the UAE. Only a few local companies are licensed to import or sell alcohol. Non-alcoholic beverages imported into the UAE cannot contain more than 0.05% per volume.

On arrival to the UAE, every food shipment will be inspected to ensure compliance with label and shelf life regulations. Make sure you properly label your produce after packaging. New-to-market products are subject to thorough laboratory analysis and the result will be ready within 5-10 days.

Now that you know what to do, ensure that you effect quality measures into farming processes. Look out for the next article on ‘Exporting to UAE Free Zones’.

To learn more about exporting to the UAE, you should attend ‘Meet the Farmers Conference’ which will hold on 27th and 28th November, 2019. Register as an Exhibitor | Sponsor | Attendee

The post All you Need to Know Before Exporting to the UAE appeared first on MTFC | Meet The Farmers Conference - Nov 2019 - Dubai UAE.