As-Suwayda native Yahya Al-Qadmani is an inspiring success story. He traveled to the UAE in the 1970s, played a major role in the agricultural revolution the country witnessed, and founded the most important project in the country, the unique “Emirates Bio Farm.”
Yahya Al-Qadmani arrived in the UAE in 1974 after graduating from the Faculty of Agriculture at Damascus University; his plan was to stay for two years, a period sufficient to save enough money to buy a house and a car in his homeland, Syria.
However, Al-Qadmani settled for 5 decades in the city of Al Ain, which became known as the “Garden City” of the country, with the help of the agricultural revolution he played a major role in achieving, which transformed the arid desert into green oases.
After a series of research projects and successful commercial ventures, ranging from growing wheat in the desert in the seventies to establishing one of the largest bio-fertilizer companies in the region, he founded the Emirates Bio Farm, a sprawling site covering 250,000 square meters about 55 minutes southwest of Dubai in 2016.
The farm has not only become a major local producer of organic fruits and vegetables, but it has also become a tourist attraction, with thousands visiting every year to enjoy the unexpected sight of large expanses of plant life growing in the shadow of the sand dunes in Al Ain. Tours are offered on trailers pulled by tractors.
Yazan, son of Yahya Al-Qadmani, who serves as the Operations Manager at Emirates Bio Farm, says that Emirates Bio Farm provides an opportunity for visitors to learn about the sustainable food system found in the UAE. “We offer an experience that no other farm currently provides.”
He added, “One of our main missions is to educate people about what organic food farming means and how it is beneficial for personal and environmental well-being.”
Emirates Bio Farm is the largest organic farm in the country, producing more than 60 types of local organic products during the season.
Yahya was selected by the senior management of Expo Dubai, along with his son Yazan, as one of the twenty "dreamers" who presented distinctive projects in the country aimed at serving the community, the environment, and humanity.
