Blockchain entity Gochain, a subsidiary of HBK Department of Projects in Abu Dhabi UAE has signed a joint venture agreement with SMARTKAS B.V. The agreement between His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, member of the Ruling Family of Abu Dhabi, UAE, and his business HBK Department of Projects and SMARTKAS’, an agricultural company based in the Netherlands, will provide a smart agriculture based on zero energy; zero water and zero waste as below:
Together with His Highness, SMARTKAS aims to spend the next ten plus years transforming many hectares of desert sand into a fertile, high-tech farms. Food security is a major concern in the Gulf region, with estimates that 90 percent of food is imported. Utilizing SMARTKAS units (“smart greenhouses”), the joint venture’s goal is to ensure that food security in the GCC area (Cooperation Council of the Arab States of the Gulf—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates) will no longer be an issue
The first project will be a 10 hectare (1,000 acre) greenhouse just outside of Dubai. As a key partner to HBK Department of Projects, GoChain is working with SMARTKAS by utilizing GoTrace, GoChain’s blockchain-based transparent asset tracking SaaS platform. GoTrace, which allows individual items, parcels, crates and shipments to be scanned, tracked and traced for transparency and provenance, will be used be used to ensure end-to-end food traceability from farm to table. As His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Nahyan stated, “Food security is among the top priorities for the Emirates, especially after the devastating impact of COVID-19. Our joint venture with SMARTKAS will bring about the future of agriculture in the UAE.”
Anwar Hussein, Group CEO of HBK Department of projects added, “As project promoters and investors we see the unique opportunity this collaboration brings to the table. SMARTKAS is a disruptive agtech company and together with HBK, we have our eyes on the bigger picture, which is ensuring food security in not only the UAE, but potentially the entire GCC area.”
Gochain hs been investing in Blockchain and partnering to develop use cases across the UAE over the past two years. One of their first investments was in Arabian Bourse crypto exchange Then recently they partnered with Apco Digicon in healthcare use case as well as with SURE International.
