Greening the desert thanks to super technology of water and dry cultivation

Scientists have turned arid sand dunes into sparkling multicolored grass hills. Work on greening this desert thanks to super technology of fossil underground mining for millions of years.

Geologist Randolf Rausch (Germany) excitedly introduced to the desert visitors, they were engrossed in the water technology in the driest place in the world at Saudia Arabia, where life seemed to have died for many years. . Ad Dahna desert zone is sunny and windy with an average annual temperature of 32 degrees Celsius, dry, odorless.

Randolf Rausch has turned dry sand dunes into sparkling multicolored grass dunes that look like silk strips. This is an imprint of Swabian, a wonderful dream of geologists.

Exploiting fossil underground water for millions of years

Water has appeared on the land of death.

Rausch made the international GTZ organization based in Germany hired by the king of Saudi Arabia to search for groundwater from many years ago. By digging up to 2000m with modern technical measures, he and his colleagues finally found water deep in the reefs in the Arabian Peninsula.

The Leipzig-based Environmental Research Center (Germany) has also implemented projects on a large scale, according to Rausch, and he and his colleagues had to use extremely modern computer methods. to find water sources and reserves of underground water from the Ice Age to date.

His two colleagues, Christoph Schüth, 50, and Andreas Kallioras, 38, also worked and calculated well. They also measured soil moisture, as well as the age of the water source near the airport that had been abandoned Darmstadt. Before making this seemingly pessimistic work, many people felt that this was hopeless, but by many efforts he could now greenen the land of death.

Currently, according to calculations by scientists, in 30 years, water resources in the capital Riyadh with a population of 4.5 million people are likely to be exhausted. Famous places like Mecca and Medina are not much better. The world's richest nation is trying to find water at all costs, and it has sprung up like a drought-resistant laboratory. Gulf states account for 40% of the world's dead land.

It was a place that did not like Western tourists but welcomed the arrival of German scientists. They invited Rausch's wife and children and other scientists to their country. After 6 years of hard work, the results have been recorded, this modern technology will be replicated to many other places.

Special water source

Fossil water is a natural source of water due to long precipitation in the soil, not in rivers or lakes. After the long Ice Age, the climate of the Arabian Peninsula changed and the desert state continued to this day. Water has penetrated deep into the soil, even it has deposited in the depressions in sedimentary rocks.

In the western part of Saudi Arabia, most of the oil is in the soil, however, water is sometimes detected. As well as oil, the source of water deposited from the Ice Age is rare and limited. In order to have them, they have to dig very deep wells, in coastal areas the groundwater source appears, but is saltwater.

In Wasia area, 100km from Riyadh, scientists have been working continuously with the help of indigenous company Hajjan Drilling for 1 shift of 12 hours and once digging for 17m in weather 50 While Celsius, while digging, the scientists suddenly discovered that the water was rising in the sand, the water was clean and warm and existed in a place where there was no life apart from a few nomadic nomads and camels.

This clean sediment source is enough to drink and it is no surprise that its age is 25,000 years. This water source is very important so that in the coming time, the US and Israel will be green in desert land.

Like North Africa, Australia, Western America, Israel, Saudi Arabia is very headache to find groundwater, of about 19 billion cubic meters of water consumed each year, 85% is used in agriculture, groundwater resources whether or not it can be renewed, the country has to use 8% of the water from the sea.

This is the leading country in the Middle East when it recognizes the importance of agriculture, so they have the idea of ​​greening desert areas. Agriculture Minister Saudia Arabica is very enthusiastic about water projects as well as using water. Two years ago, the government canceled aid to wheat farms and ended the domestic wheat production program in 2016.

Vice Minister of Water Resources Mohammed Al-Saud, said that there is always a conflict between water and agricultural users, unable to develop agriculture in the context of high water costs. This Gulf state has been supporting the wheat industry since the 1970s based on the recognition of the food security strategy, but because of the need for water, the cost of products is too high to go the other way.

Growing and importing food abroad, developing less water crops

In the face of expensive food production due to the price of water, Saudi Arabia has encouraged to import or rent food production land overseas and return it to the country. Asian countries have other water problems like Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, China and South Korea have similar plans. Entrepreneurs have signed import contracts with many food exporting countries like Ethiopia, Sudan, Pakistan and Ukraine. The Pakistan side has sometimes pledged to export 100% of its food to the Middle East country despite a food shortage for the country.

As food production consumes water, the government encourages domestic agriculture to develop only valuable traditional crops, such as palm trees and vegetables in greenhouses, and growing these crops requires only distilled water from the sea. Desalination is enough. The freshly drained system will be more efficient, the long-term goal is to recycle the water used from this agriculture.

Currently, thanks to new water, farm Al-Faisaliah in the west of the capital Ridyath will turn into a model agricultural farm, the road to the farm will pass through a desert, crossing a giant wheat field Giant with continuous water injection system. The owner of the farm is Hamad Abdulaziz Alkhaldi, who is known as Sheikh Abu Naif, who ended wheat cultivation many years ago, and specialized in agriculture as market demand. It is a model farm that requires market patience and climate change. Now he owns 26,000 palm trees, compared to farms in regional countries, this farm is better.

Dry farming - a new direction for agriculture before climate change

Dry cultivation is a method that does not require irrigation. The plant is stimulated so that roots grow deep into the soil and suck up natural reserves in the soil. This farming style is optimal in certain terrain with naturally accumulated groundwater.

Some evidence suggests that the Incas in South America cultivated under similar conditions. Much of Europe's wine industry is using dry farming.

Should cherish every drop of water

Reducing the amount of irrigation water in agriculture will contribute to the protection of clean water resources are increasingly scarce in the world.

Currently, we use more than two-thirds of the water for agriculture. The more economical and reasonable use of clean water is when the UN predicts that by 2025, more than 65% of the world's population will have to live in a state of water scarcity. In fact, clean water only accounts for 3% of the planet's water source with about 75% stored in glaciers.

Therefore, we should cherish every drop of water, care about how to reduce the amount of water used in all areas, not just agriculture. However, agriculture is the industry that feeds the world. So how can we cultivate and raise animals to save water?

Today, there are farms that do not need soil, root systems of plants sprayed with mist (aerated), saving up to 95% of water compared to growing in soil and conventional irrigation. The United Nations estimates the population will reach nearly 10 billion by 2050, of which the majority live in urban areas. In order to provide enough food for that population, we are increasingly seeking technology solutions.

"In France, irrigation is banned, you cannot irrigate the vineyard," Tod Mostero, a Dominus Estate vineyard farmer in Napa Valley, California, said. Dominus has been doing dry cultivation for many years, and the water savings are amazing. Without using water to irrigate 100,000 vines, they save one million gallons of water per month, ie about 3,785,411 liters of water.

In California, where 80% of water is used for agriculture, such water-saving ways need attention. For crops that require a lot of water like almonds, dry farming can be an option for farmers. Potatoes and tomatoes have also been grown this way here.

Save half the amount of water compared to traditional irrigation

Of course, for wine makers, the taste is the most important. Luckily for Mostero, the cultivated Dominus grape is even more succulent than conventional grown grapes. Due to geographic requirements, not everyone can do dry farming. Another disadvantage of dry cultivation is that yields may be lower than normal. Farmers can save water with another technique called partial root drying.

Thanks to the new water source, life on many desert areas is revived.

Grape fields use dry cultivation techniques.

Land preparation for dry cultivation.

Pioneered by the professor, crop scientist Bill Davies (Lancaster University), this technique divides the plant's root system into halves, watering in half and leaving the other half alone. The process is then reversed. This technique uses only about half the amount of water compared to traditional irrigation. Drying a part of the roots has been successfully tested on some crops, including rice."Rice uses a terrible amount of water. We have advised Chinese farmers that if they go to rice fields and see their footprints on the ground, there is no need to water," said Davies.

Most irrigation systems operate quite accurately. But climate change is increasingly affecting the food production areas. Our system needs to change. Farming techniques need to respond now.