H.E. Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan: The Award is a hub for international partnerships to develop the date palm cultivation and agricultural innovation sectors.

H.E. Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation, expressed his appreciation for the generous patronage and the continuous support the Award gained from H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Vice President and Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of the Presidential Court, for its contribution to the development of the date palm cultivation and production sector at the national, regional and international levels. This is in addition to strengthening the UAE’s leading position, through cooperation with date-producing countries and concerned regional and international organizations, where His Excellency expressed his confidence in the efforts of the Award’s General Secretariat, which played an important role in building international partnerships to develop this sector.

Dr. Abdelouahhab Zaid, Secretary General of Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation, during his speech at the press conference held on Monday, 29^th of January, 2024, at the Emirates Palace hotel, Abu Dhabi, in the presence of Dr. Helal Humaid Saed Al Kaabi, Member of the Award’s Board of Trustees, Secretary General of the Abu Dhabi Council for quality and conformity, announced the winners names of Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation, in its Sixteenth session, 2024.

International Award winners

The Award’s Secretary General then added that based on the Scientific Committee’s report, the names of the winners of Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation, in its Sixteenth session, 2024, have been determined in accordance with the international standards and mechanisms used in granting the Award, and which then were approved by H.E. Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence, Chairman of the Award’s Board of Trustees, where the results were as follows:

Distinguished Innovative Studies and Modern Technology Category (Equally won by):

1. By: Dr. Khaled Masmoudi – College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine – UAEU / UAE

Enzyme stabilization and thermotolerance function of the intrinsically disordered LEA2 proteins from date palm.

And

1. By: Dr. Ezzeldin Gadallah Hussein Ahmed - Agricultural Research Centre, Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation / Egypt

Phoenix dactylifera in vitro culture and transformation of Thio-60 antifungal gene via chitosan nanoparticle.

Pioneering Development and Productive Projects Category (Equally won by):

1. By: Dr. Lim Swee Hua Erin - HCT - Abu Dhabi / UAE

Sustainable Seeds: A Tale of Two Innovations

And

1. AFRICA ORGANICS / Morocco

World’s largest organic date palm plantation (1200 ha) of farmland

Pioneering and Sophisticated Innovations Serving the Agricultural Sector Category (Equally won by):

1. By: Dr. Yarub Kahtan Abdul Rahman Al Doruri – University of Sharjah / UAE

Production of powder-activated carbon from natural resources

And

1. By: VALORIZEN LLC, Research and Innovation Center / Egypt

Scalable, Market Driven and Climate Positive Solutions of Date Palm Waste

Influential Figure in the Field of Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation Category (Equally won by):

1. Dr. Ramzy Abdelrahim Dessoky Aboaiana / KSA

And

1. Prof. Ibraheem Jaddoa Olelwi Al Juboori, PhD / Iraq

A qualitative leap and big steps

The Award’s Secretary General then added that the Award has made great achievements since its inception, as it has achieved a leading position, where it is the first award of its kind in the world, thanks to the generous patronage and continuous support of H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Vice President and Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of the Presidential Court, and close follow-up of H.E. Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence, Chairman of the Award’s Board of Trustees. Pointing out that the Award’s Sixteenth session did gain the participation of 74 researchers, representing 18 countries.

Award’s International statistics

From his side, Dr. Helal Humaid Saed Al Kaabi, member of the Award’s Board of Trustees, indicated that the Award’s Sixteenth session was distinguished by a set of key points, as follows:

1. The number of applicants reached 74 candidates, representing 18 countries from across the world.
2. The number of Emirati applicants to the International Award reached 11 candidates, i.e. 15 %, where the highest participation rate was to the “Agricultural Innovation” category.
3. The number of applicants to the International Award from the Arab countries, reached 67 candidates, i.e. 90.5%, where the highest participation rate was to the “Distinguished studies and modern technology” category.
4. The number of applicants to the International Award from the rest of the world reached 7 candidates, i.e. 9.5%, where the highest participation rate was to the “Development projects” category, and the “Agricultural Innovation” category.

In general, the “Distinguished Studies and Modern Technology” category, recorded as usual the highest participation rate among the Award’s categories, over the past sessions, as the percentage of participants in this category reached 38%, while the “Agricultural Innovation” category recorded 29.7% participations, the “Development Projects” category recorded 13.5%, the “Distinguished Personality” category 12.1%, and the “Distinguished Producers” category recorded 6.7% of the participations.