According to the United Nations, the global population is expected to grow to 8.5 billion by 2030, 9.7 billion by 2050 and over 11 billion by the end of the century. Currently, about 11% of the world's land consists of arable land. Considering the increasing population and fixed arable land; How can we ensure that the needs of the growing population are met without bringing the world to the brink of ecological disaster?
As with most global issues, the magnitude of the answers required to resolve this issue is daunting. Humanity's response to this challenge is possible with a multi-solution strategy. It is necessary to seize every opportunity to optimize food production.
Groundbreaking techniques such as indoor vertical cultivation, hydroponic and aquaponic , zero-input food forests and seawater farming open up exciting new possibilities. One of the ways to feed the growing population with the fixed arable lands in the world is to produce in the desert. While this approach may sound counterintuitive, some of the world's most barren lands may hold the key to a greener, more food-rich future.
Recovering inanimate soils for growing food and green cover; In addition to increasing the arable land and thus meeting the needs of the increasing population, it is thought that more green areas to be obtained will also help in the fight against climate change.
Most of the desert land that exists in the world today was once arable land. For example, the desert areas of Iraq were once the " green crescent ", home to some of the world's oldest civilizations.
Accurate and scientific interventions can restore such deserted soils to their former fertility. Today, various initiatives and techniques with various positive and strengths are applied to reverse desertification in the world.
Related Products
In " Greening the Deserts Project " in Jordan; uses permaculture , a low-input technique that mimics the restorative patterns in nature. While the transition to fertile soil is slow in this technique, it appears to be stable and economically feasible even for the poorest communities.
Israel is home to many revolutionary new technologies that reinvigorate desert lands. These include the development of drought-resistant fruit and vegetable varieties; This ranges from technologies that trap moisture to produce water for plants.
Sunrop Farms in the desert of South Australia uses the electricity it generates by using solar sonar panels and the fresh water it produces by desalinating sea water to grow pesticide-free tomatoes in a greenhouse environment; With this project, it can grow 17.000 tons of tomatoes per year.
In the Mexican desert, the world's first cactus-powered biogas plant produces renewable fuel using prickly pears.
Dubai-based company Dake Rechsand applies a technique that can keep water around the plant roots in the inanimate desert soil for a longer period of time and also allows the free circulation of air in its production in the desert environment. With this technique, organic rice was grown on an area of 1,500 acres in the Ulam Buh Desert, one of the seven driest regions in the world, at temperatures up to 57 degrees Celsius.