UAE to turn desert into rich farmland

Dubai - The project will go into three phases where a plan will be put out in cooperation with local authorities.

As part of its efforts to attain food security, the UAE is seeking new technologies that can withstand its fierce climate, water scarcity and soil salinity, and produce local crops with least amount of water.

With the UAE currently importing 80 per cent of its food supplies, the country aims to produce 60 per cent more food to feed a global population of nine billion people within the next 33 years.

The country has been establishing international partnerships to help produce crops and last week, Mawarid Holding signed an agreement with Chinese Chongqing Earthskin Eco-technology to implement desert soilisation technologies in different parts of Al Ain desert.

Under the agreement, both parties will test different technologies in one or more sites from the existing desert lands to plant 10 square kilometres of grass, trees or vegetables in the first year of cooperation.

Speaking to Khaleej Times, Dr Thani Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, said the project aims to try new technologies that would fit the UAE's climate while reducing the water consumption. The ministry's target is to diversify food and increase local food production.

"We will try different types of water including groundwater, diluted water and treated water. We will compare our results before taking the next decision in the next phase," he said.

The project will go into three phases where a plan will be put out in cooperation with local authorities. As a beginning, 10 square kilometres will be allotted for farming in the next two-three years and will be expanded later on a commercial scale once the project is successful.

On a private project, another team of Chinese scientists have already started harvesting rice in diluted sea-water in aims to cover around 10 per cent of the UAE with paddy fields - although details as to how this will be achieved have yet to be disclosed.

An agreement was also signed to promote seawater rice across the Arab world to reduce the risk of food shortage in the future.

Al Zeyoudi said the ministry encourages different types of planting technologies, with vertical farming becoming the most common in reducing water as much as possible.

"Greenhouses are becoming costly, which is why people generally avoid it," he said, noting that big farms in Abu Dhabi and the northern emirates are committing to using net farming to reduce temperature and water consumption.

"Diversity in technologies helps, so if a problem ever occurred, it won't destroy all of the crops. It will give the chance to plant the other supplies with different technologies," said Al Zeyoudi.

CQ Earthskin may set up an application research centre of desert soilisation technologies in Abu Dhabi to analyse the process of the desert soilisation or carry out other research on the application of desert soilisation technologies.

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