A joint venture between GrowGroup IFS from the Netherlands and Abu Dhabi-based RainMakers Capital Investment will build the largest indoor farm in the world in the desert of the UAE.

GreenFactory Emirates will produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce per year on a plot of 17.5 hectares and a cultivation area of 160,000 square metres.

The AED650 million project will develop an innovative indoor farming with the world's most advanced indoor growing system from The Netherlands - a combination of vertical and flat farming to solve the normal cultivation restrictions due to extreme climates in regions like the UAE.

According to a statement, the facility in the Abu Dhabi desert will involve numerous leading agro-technological companies in its construction. From seeding, harvesting, processing to "ready to eat" products will take place under one roof.

The joint venture also plans to build other indoor farms in other regions of the world where extreme climates are a challenge to normal cultivation, the statement added.

Mariam Hareb Almheiri, the UAE's Minister of State for Food Security (pictured above), said: "The private sector plays a vital role in the transition towards more sustainable food systems. Private sector organisations have entrepreneurial traits that drive innovation. They possess the qualities necessary to disrupt existing non-sustainable agricultural systems."

She added: "The UAE is applying concerted efforts to improve its domestic production of food, with agricultural technology – ‘AgTech’ - having a hugely important role to play... Indoor farms such as GreenFactory Emirates are instrumental in helping us reach these goals."

The GreenFactory said it will be saving 95 percent of water consumption as opposed to standard methods of cultivation as well as reducing its Co2 footprint up to 40 percent. By growing fresh produce locally, it also aims to slowly reduce reliance on fresh foods imports.

The indoor farm will include a built-in research and development component that will help ramp up the production beyond the 56 current varieties of lettuces, leafy greens, herbs and kale. It will also optimise its production by collecting real time data to inform future global expansion of indoor farming.

Phase 1 will be operational before Expo 2020 Dubai in October 2021 so GreenFactory Emirates can show the world its innovations.

Earlier this month, ADQ announced the establishment of Silal, a new company in Abu Dhabi developed to diversify food sources and increase locally grown, raised and manufactured food.

The new entity complements the Abu Dhabi government’s efforts to secure food supply chains as well as to boost the supply and distribution of food in the emirate.

Silal, meaning "baskets" in Arabic, will also implement knowledge-transfer programmes related to desert farming technology and other R&D projects to support an increase in local production of fruits and vegetables from small farmers in the UAE.