Ras Al Khaimah Scientists at a test farm are carrying out experiments on crops to safeguard the future of agriculture and cope with declining water resources in the UAE.
The model farm at Ras Al Khaimah aims to discover the best methods for growing crops which can flourish in saline water and survive another drought.
Experts hope to identify which crops fare better and how farmers could make the most of new methods of biosaline agriculture. The three-year experiment is being carried out by the International Centre for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.
Mohammed Saleh, head of the Soil and Water Section at the Ras Al Khaimah Agricultural and Fisheries Department, said results and methods deployed would be made available to farmers to assist them in their crop growing methods.
Saleh explained that the agricultural expansion in the UAE has increased pressure on the underground water supply. This, coupled with sea water seeping into the underground system and a drought of recent years, had made the situation significantly worse.
Saleh said that some of the UAE wells had either dried up completely or the levels had significantly dropped. The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries is working under the directives of Mohammed Saeed Al Raqabani, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, who has called on an action plan to counter the increased salinity of water and lack of fresh water in the UAE.
He added that a farm at Ras Al Khaimah had been chosen to try out new crop growing methods as its water supply was very saline. The salinity of the farm was measured at 9,000 ppm (parts per million).
Model farm
At the Ras Al Khaimah model farm for biosaline agriculture, around 70 different types of barley are being grown. Saleh said that the model farm was divided into four parts, two sections were planted with barley and buffalo grass, while the remainder is yet to be planted.
He said that it would be difficult for many of the field crops to live under such conditions with the saline water, however, the successful implementation of the experiment lies with the growing of different types of the traditional and non-traditional provender (animal food) by using saline water.
Saleh said the full technical team from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries had been involved in the experiment, doing their best to find a solution to the common problems facing farmers.Adopting the new biosaline agriculture means the comprehensive implementation of agricultural management in the farms which suffer salinity.
Dr. Mohammed Hassan Al Attar, the Director General of the ICBA, said developing biosaline agriculture to replace the fresh water was a vital step in safeguarding the future economy of the nation.
He said that the biosaline agriculture depended on a substitute for fresh water as 80 to 90 per cent of the water in water-scarce countries were often directed towards agriculture and livestock.
He stressed that this was of the utmost importance in the Arab world where fresh water supplies was used for farming.
Dr Al Attar said that the ICBA had been making huge efforts to record all the possible information about the genetic features of the crops which survive saline water.
He stressed that a huge portion of the agricultural land of the GCC countries was covered with provender and so testing the readiness and ability of the crop to stand the saline water had to be given top priority.
Dr Al Attar added that Omani Landrace Barley, Safflower, buffalo grass and Alfalfa have been tested and that many of them can by produced by biosaline agriculture. However, until now only a small number has been tested for this purpose.
The centre is testing certain species of mangrove which have been brought from Japan and Pakistan to be later used in coastal areas.
Dr Al Attar explained that controlling the salinity of the water and the soil had been very complicated as it required a particular agricultural and environmental approach.
The degree of salinity and the soil should be carefully monitored to reveal any damage to the soil when it is irrigated by saline water.
The centre has developed a set of advanced procedures to secure a certain degree of salinity of the area around the roots of the crops when irrigation with saline water takes place.
Making the most of available resources
Scientists conduct experiments on crops to discover the best methods for them to flourish in saline water and survive another drought.
The three-year experiment is being carried out by the International Centre for Biosaline Agriculture with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.
They hope to identify which crops fare better and how farmers could make the most of new methods of biosaline agriculture.
Adopting the new biosaline agriculture means the comprehensive implementation of agricultural management in the farms which suffer salinity.
The centre has developed a set of advanced procedures to secure a certain degree of salinity of the area around the roots of the crops when irrigation with saline water takes place.
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