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), has announced that it is investing Dh120 million ($32.6 million) as an initial investment in its new farm in Abu Dhabi’s Liwa area.

The announcement was made during a press conference held on April 10, at the Fairmont on Dubai’s Sheikh Zayed Road.

During the event, Al Rawdah signed contracts with LAE-Anlagenbau – for manufacturing production machinery; Amandus Kahl – for designing and building feed mills; and Prompt Contracting – for contractual works, added the statement.

Phase 1 of the Liwa project 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 per cent thus boosting UAE’s food security and creating an ecosystem for sustainable production, it said.

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 six 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, it stated.

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 Dh180 million ($49 million) in 2015, with a 10 per cent increase in sales expected for 2016. At the same time, the company is pursuing internal efficiencies and driving excellence in all operations. A reduction in imports will result in a 20 per cent operating cost reduction, further added the statement.

Abdalla Al Owais, chairman of Al Rawdah, said: “We are very proud to announce the launch of our new Liwa facility, which will be of tremendous long-term benefit to both our company’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,” he said. – TradeArabia News Service