An Emirati-led AgriTech start-up has developed a drone that can pollinate date palm trees in less than a minute.
Before the flowering season, a drone is used to map out the area where pollination is required.
Data collected from the 3D map is then fed into the pollination drone's algorithm.
The drone then autonomously pollinates the trees.
Date palm trees have a special part in our hearts
Mohammad Al Moosa,
chief executive of CODE Three Fourteen
“We are 96 per cent to 99 per cent faster than traditional methods,” said Mohammad Al Moosa, chief executive of CODE Three Fourteen.
The drone can take as little as 20 seconds to pollinate one tree, whereas traditional methods can take up to 30 minutes and require several workers, he said.
“It’s more efficient this way, it’s more precise,” he said. “You don’t get a lot of human error because there’s minimal human intervention."
From software to agriculture
Founded in July 2019, CODE Three Fourteen is run by three Emirati brothers, Mohammad, Abdulla, and Ahmad Al Moosa.
The company began as a tech start-up with a focus on developing applications and software.
However, after the outbreak of Covid-19, CODE moved its operations to branch into the agriculture industry.
“We merged both our passions, which is tech, software development and coding, into agriculture,” said Mohammad, 30.
Mohammad credits Ahmad, chief strategy officer, as the person who pushed the direction of the company towards agriculture.
“He’s basically the visionary, the futurist of the company,” Mohammad said.
“He’s our main strategist who shoots the crazy ideas out and gives us the chance to plug in the numbers and see if it’s going to be worth it or not.”
The brothers also have a school friend, Ahmad Al Falasi, on the team as chief commercial officer.
A fifth team member, Vidhun Vijayakrishnan, who they met at their previous companies, is also a key part of the CODE.
“We call him the 'creator of opportunities'. He has his ways of getting us in touch with the people we need to get in touch with,” Mohammad said.
Detecting threats from weevils
CODE Three Fourteen has also developed a drone that can detect a red palm weevil infestation in date palm trees at an earlier stage than conventional methods.
The red palm weevil is an insect known to be a major threat to the region’s vital date palm trees and infestations have caused farmers to suffer financial losses.
The autonomous drone collects data of red palm weevil infested date palm trees using a multispectral camera.
This data is then fed into the algorithm with true data, using true positives and true negatives to increase the accuracy of the drone’s detection system.
“Current detection methods are happening at a very late stage using visual signs. At that stage, the tree either dies, or you have a major loss in crop yield for the trees,” Mohammad said.
Global challenges
Abdulla, 27, CODE’s chief operating officer, highlighted the importance of tech in the global agriculture industry.
“Today we cannot meet the demands of the seven billion people that we have on Earth today. What about when we’re at 10 billion? If we’re doing the same thing we’re doing today we won’t be able to meet those demands,” he said.
The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation has reported that the demand for food will increase by 70 per cent by 2050.
“That’s going to put a strain on the land that we can cultivate. Technology is going to play a pivotal role in having that transformation and having that food security,” Abdulla said.
Apart from the positive global effects AgriTech companies such as CODE Three Fourteen can have, the brothers are also influenced by their mission to preserve an important part of their heritage.
“It’s part of our culture and heritage in the UAE,” Mohammad said.
“We didn’t want that beautiful part of our culture to die out because of this RPW pest. Date palm trees have a special part in our hearts because they are a part of us.”
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Company profile
Name: One Good Thing
Founders: Bridgett Lau and Micheal Cooke
Based in: Dubai
Sector: e-commerce
Size: 5 employees
Stage: Looking for seed funding
Investors: Self-funded and seeking external investors
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