Innovative Method of Farming

Agriculture Innovation Centre in Al Dhaid Enhance Techniques for Greenhouse Agriculture in the UAE and to Pass these Ideas on to Farmers to Improve their Produce to Reduce Water Consumption in Farming

The centre, officially opened on Wednesday by Dr Rashid bin Fahad, Minister of Environment and Water, was launched 18 months ago to develop and enhance techniques for greenhouse agriculture in the UAE and to pass these ideas on to farmers to improve their produce.

One of the tests involved passing water through cells made of precious metals and into growing tomatoes, said Rebecca Hodgson, managing director of Global Industry Solution.

"We divided a greenhouse into two parts, one uses normal water and in the other the water passed through cells and is monitored for impurities."

The tomatoes given the treated water showed a big increase in the growth of seedlings.

"Using our method, the farmers will see more growth and less cost, they won't have to clean the irrigation systems because the water is pure, it will use less water, energy and no chemicals," said Ms Hodgson.

Another technique being studied is cooling greenhouses by absorbing water from the plants inside, instead of fans.

Source: The National UAE

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