The ICBA Center in the UAE helps produce its crops
Expo Live .. “Smart” agriculture spreads good crops in saline environments
The Center helps improve food security in poor regions around the world.
From the source
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The International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) implements research and development programs aimed at enhancing and sustaining agricultural productivity in saline environments, focusing on marginal areas in which some 1.7 billion people live.
The center also identifies, tests and introduces climate-smart, resource-efficient crops and technologies that are best suited to various regions affected by salinity, water scarcity and drought.
Through its work, the Center helps improve food security and livelihoods for some of the poorest rural communities around the world. The International Center for Biosaline Agriculture is an international, non-profit agricultural research center established in 1999. Innovation represents one of the core principles of the Center's work. The multi-pronged research approach addresses the creation of Solutions to closely related challenges related to water, environment, income and food security, and include innovative research in the areas of natural resource valuation, climate change adaptation, crop productivity and diversification, hydroponics, bioenergy, and policy analysis.
The center, which qualified for Expo 2020 Dubai, the international innovation and partnership program, which aims to support projects that provide innovative solutions to pressing challenges, confirms that it contributes to achieving sustainable development goals in the world, by working to develop many technologies that include the use of Conventional and non-conventional water, including: (saline water, treated wastewater, industrial water, agricultural drainage water, and sea water), water and land management technologies, remote sensing, and modeling for adaptation to climate change.
The center's activities cover several regions around the world, including the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, the Middle East and North Africa, Central Asia and the Caucasus, South and Southeast Asia, and in several sub-Saharan African countries.
In 1996, an agreement was signed between the Islamic Development Bank and the UAE government to establish the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) and consider it an official entity.
The Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development and the OPEC Fund also provided financial support for the establishment of ICBA. In 1997, the Dubai Municipality granted an area of 100 hectares of land in Al Ruwayyah, in which the foundations of the ICBA headquarters were laid. An area of 35 hectares of this land has been allocated to suit applied research on irrigated agriculture. Experts carry out experiments using different types of water ranging from relatively good quality water with low salinity (2000 ppm) to saline water (20 thousand ppm). .
According to the center, the land allocated for irrigated agriculture is divided into 13 fields, each of which is 2.5 hectares, so that the salinity of the field can be monitored even at the basin level. One of the fields was provided with a computer-controlled "SCADA" system, through which it is possible to control the quantity and salinity of irrigation water in any part of the experimental basins in the field. Water can be provided by sprinkler, drip, sparkling, or portable irrigation, allowing experts to replicate a variety of irrigation practices. Ponds with low salinity water are used for propagation of plants and seeds.
The headquarters includes the Central Analysis Laboratory, the Desert Life Sciences Laboratory, the Genetic Bank, in addition to the training and lecture building, greenhouses and shaded houses, and the Emirates Soil Museum.
The central analysis laboratory provides a variety of services that include collecting soil and water samples, analyzes of the chemical and physical properties of soil and water, analyzes of nutrients in soil and plants, and quality indicators of various organic and inorganic fertilizers.
Services are available to experts and other stakeholders from various institutions.
The laboratory applies internationally recognized standards and procedures for sample analysis and quality control.
The Center also operates the Desert Life Sciences Laboratory, in cooperation with the Chinese Institute of Genomics, which is a research facility equipped with state-of-the-art genomics.
about marginal environments
The International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) stresses that in marginal environments, natural resources are more limited and fragile than in other regions. However, climate change and population growth, along with other factors, put more pressure on vital resources such as fresh water, weakening the food and water security of the communities living in these environments. At the global level, 40% of agricultural land is considered marginal, if we take into account the issue of drought and decline, and 65% of the population lives in low-income countries.Another problem faced by marginal environments is land degradation, including declining soil fertility and salinization, which affects agriculture, which is the main source of livelihood for rural communities, causing severe damages at the social and economic levels, and it is expected that the competitive demand for water resources will increase. fresh water, for agriculture, energy and human consumption. Agriculture is already responsible for 70% of the world's fresh water consumption, making it the sector that uses this resource the most.
• The Center focuses on the marginal areas in which about 1.7 billion people live.
• 1999, the year in which the center was established, which qualified for the "Expo 2020 Dubai" program.
the problem
The inefficiency of agriculture and its impact on climate change.
The solution
Agricultural systems that increase production and reduce harmful effects on saline soils.
sector
- Farming.
the site
- The United Arab Emirates.