ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates – The United Arab Emirates has launched Abu Dhabi’s AI Ecosystem for Global Agricultural Development, a platform designed to bring AI solutions to climate-exposed agricultural regions and support the communities most affected by shifting weather patterns.
The launch builds on the USD 200 million (Sh26 billion) UAE–Gates Foundation partnership announced at COP28 to accelerate agricultural innovation.
With two years of progress and the partnership continuing to advance, the announcement was made in the presence of Mariam Almheiri, Head of the International Affairs Office at the UAE Presidential Court; Bill Gates, Chair of the Gates Foundation; and Ismahane Elouafi, Executive Managing Director of CGIAR.
Following the announcement, Mariam and Bill Gates joined the UAE–Gates Partnership Showcase, an immersive overview of the ecosystem’s core pillars, demonstrating how Abu Dhabi’s research strength, technological capabilities, and AI leadership are being brought together to support vulnerable agricultural communities around the world.
These capabilities come together through four landmark initiatives: the CGIAR AI Hub, the Institute for Agriculture and Artificial Intelligence (IAAI), AgriLLM, and The Agricultural Innovation Mechanism for Scale (AIM for Scale).
Mariam, Head of the International Affairs Office at the UAE Presidential Court, said:
“The UAE is harnessing artificial intelligence for global good, to help protect the farmers and communities most exposed to climate volatility. By connecting our national research and AI capabilities with leading global partners, we are turning science into real tools that reach people on the ground. Through our partnership with the Gates Foundation, we are advancing Agri-AI solutions that support millions of smallholder farmers facing unpredictable weather, helping secure a more stable and hopeful future for communities worldwide.”
Bill Gates, Chair of the Gates Foundation, added:
“Around the world, smallholder farmers are facing the harshest impacts of climate change with the fewest tools to adapt. The AI for Agriculture Ecosystem helps change that by putting practical, data-driven solutions directly in farmers’ hands. I’m grateful for the UAE’s leadership: this initiative helps strengthen food security and support farmers in a warming world.”
The AI for Agriculture Ecosystem is built upon a collaborative network that includes the International Affairs Office at the UAE Presidential Court and four Abu Dhabi-based institutions: Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), NYU Abu Dhabi, and ai71, alongside key international partners including the Gates Foundation, CGIAR, and the World Bank.
Together, these partners form a unified system that turns advanced research and AI capabilities into practical solutions for farmers, governments, and development actors. This system spans the full chain of innovation from scientific discovery to digital advisory, open-source agricultural AI models, and field deployment in climate-vulnerable regions.
What are these four initiatives
CGIAR AI Hub: A global collaborative workspace hosted in Abu Dhabi by ai71 as a core technology partner. It is set to revolutionise agriculture by driving digital transformation and innovation. The hub aims to establish Abu Dhabi as a leading center for AI in agriculture, leveraging over 50 years of CGIAR’s extensive agricultural data and expertise from its 13 global research centers and partner networks.
“The AI Agriculture Ecosystem is rooted in science and powered by global collaboration,” said Ismahane Elouafi, CGIAR’s Executive Managing Director. “By combining AI expertise and insights from global partners, the AI Agriculture Ecosystem can develop innovations that strengthen decision-making, guide policies and investments, and accelerate the adoption of digital tools – supporting vulnerable communities in the Global South and farmers in the Global North facing similar challenges.”
Groundbreaking advances delivered by the CGIAR AI Hub so far include the AI-Water Project, an AI-powered hydrological model by IWMI, that enhances transboundary water management and forecasting, with a global dashboard under development for the 2026 UN Water Conference; and the AI Genebank, a platform that speeds up crop improvement by rapidly screening over 700,000 plant samples for climate-resilient traits and linking them to research via an interactive chatbot.
Institute of Agriculture and Artificial Intelligence (IAAI): Based at MBZUAI in Abu Dhabi, the IAAI is a new, pioneering digital advisory hub for agriculture that offers digital advisory tools, training programs, and technical assistance teams to governments and NGOs. The hub is dedicated to improving the lives and livelihoods of over 43 million smallholder farmers impacted by extreme weather changes.
What is AgriLLM in this context
AgriLLM is an open-source large language model developed by ai71 in Abu Dhabi and designed to advance global agricultural intelligence. It is trained on deep agricultural data, including 350,000 agricultural documents, 50,000 research papers, and 120,000 real farming questions and answers, and is designed for multilingual understanding.
Four AI agents by AgriLLM are currently being tested with partners, demonstrating how the model can deliver region-specific, role-based guidance for climate adaptation, resource management, and food production. The entire AI-enabled model will be released as a public good, free for anyone to use, modify, or build upon.
AIM for Scale: An initiative jointly funded by the UAE and the Gates Foundation. It is based at NYU Abu Dhabi. It is driving global efforts to deliver AI-powered weather forecasting and digital advisory services to smallholder farmers. At COP30, AIM for Scale announced a shared ambition with its partners to reach 100 million farmers by 2030.
This ambition is already backed by real progress: in 2025, the Government of India delivered AI-powered monsoon forecasts via SMS to 38 million farmers, the largest such deployment to date. Building on this momentum, MBZUAI and the University of Chicago launched an AI Weather Forecasting Training Program in Abu Dhabi, training officials from Bangladesh, Chile, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Nigeria, with plans to expand to 25 more countries by 2027.
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