role of biosaline agriculture faisal taha

International Center for Biosaline Agriculture, Dubai, UAE.

THE ROLE OF BIOSALINE AGRICULTURE TO COPE WITH WATER

SCARCITY IN THE WANA REGION

Faisal Taha and Shoaib IsmailInternational Center for Biosaline Agriculture,

Dubai, UAE.


Water Resources of the World…


MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA Region among the

driest in the world


Actual Renewable Fresh Water Resources per Capita

Per Region


0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

WANA

SA

W Europe

EAP

SSA

ECA

N America

LAC

Aus/NZ

1000 m3 / year

Annual renewable water resources worldwide


South America 129 mha

North/Central America: 21 mha

Europe 51 m ha

Australasia 357 mhaAfrica 81 mha

Asia 299 mha

Extent of Salinity


Alternative water resources ………Why & Where?

- Prospects of additional water resources…….Management- Alternatively, need to use marginal water

RENEWABLE WATER RESOURCESAgriculture consumption of water resources

0 25 50 75

Re-used Water


Country Usable Brackish Water Resources(million m3/year)

Salinity Ranges(ppm)

Basin (s) Equivalent Fresh Water

Volume(million m3/year)

Potential Land for Biosaline

Agriculture(Hectare)

Total Irrigated Area

(Hectare)

Percent Potential Land for BiosalineAgriculture of Total Irrigated Area

Col 1 Col 2(1-LR) x Col 1

Col 3Col 1/WR

Col 4 Col 5Col 3/ Col 4

Jordan 246 3,000-10,000 Jordan Valley, Wadi Araba, Southern Ghors

197 25,900 63,000 41%

Syria 768 4,000-8,000 Palmyra, Sewwanah

640 74,600 693,000 11%

Oman 320 6,000-15,000 Najd, Central Region

256 25,200 58,000 43%

Yemen 300 3,000-8,000 Tihama Plain 250 38,500 348,000 11%

Algeria 470 4,000-16,000 South Valley, Ouargla Basin, Oued Rhir Valley

392 87,000 384,000 23%

Libya 208 >5,000 Ghadames Area 173 33,000 470,000 7%

Tunisia 333 5,000- >7,500 South and Central Regions

278 47,600 300,000 16%

Total 2,645 3,000-16,000 2,185 331,800 2,316,000 14%

Extent of Saline Water in the WANA Region


Brackish and saline water

Marginal and saline land

Irrigated/ supplementary

irrigated agriculture

Salt-tolerant plant production

systems

Biosaline Agriculture


The challenges of managing salinity is twofold: (i) Finding ways to use marginal water and saline

land to feed the increasing population(ii) Ensuring the sustainability of natural resources

(saline water and land)

The Challenge…….

Develop integrated approach of soil, water and crops

This approach has to be economically viable, environmentally safe and sustainable


Brackish water: 2 – 25 dS/m1,500 – 15,000 ppm

Very saline groundwater

Moderately-saline

< 0.7 < 500 Drinking and irrigation water

Type of Water

2 - 10 1,500 – 7,000 Primary drainage & groundwater

0.7 - 2 500 – 1,500 Irrigation waterSlightly-saline

10 - 25 7,000 – 15,000Highly-saline

25 - 45 15,000 – 35,000Very highly saline

> 45 > 35,000 SeawaterBrine

Non-saline

Water Class EC(dS/m)

TDS(ppm)

Secondary drainage & groundwater

Saline water that can be used…..


Salinity Classification

Salinity Range Production System(s)

Slightly saline <5 dS/m Glycophytes

Moderately saline 5-15 dS/m Salt-tolerant glycophyte crops

Highly saline 15-25 dS/m Salt-tolerant (glycophytes) and halophyte crops

Very highly saline >25 dS/m Halophyte crops

Seawater 40-60 dS/m Halophyte crops

Targeted Salinity Ranges


Salt-affected environments

Production systems Products

The Chain………..

RESOURCES MANAGEMENT MARKET’S


Approaches to Combating Salinity……………

1. Improved salt tolerant varieties of forage/fodder, dates, bioenergy trees and others.

2. Improved management of saline water for irrigation.

3. Support capacity building and agricultural institutions.

4. Strong partnership with Donors, Private sectors and National Research & Development programs.


Forage Project for WANA region

Salt tolerant crops improvement

1. Establishment of national demonstration sites in each country

2. Screening and evaluation of summer and winter annual forages and perennial grass and shrub forages

3. Identification of annual and perennial salt-tolerant forages suitable for each partner country

4. Participation of more than 120 farmer in the project from partner countries

5. Seed multiplication of key species for scaling up and adoption of limited number of farmers

6. Extensive capacity building took place at the project level and at the country levels including field and farmers days

7. Several countries adopted the strategic approaches to the use of marginal water and supported several in-country projects

Case Studies….


Pearl milletTotal yield over four harvests at 5 dS.m-1 ranged from 30-35 t/ha, and 17-30 t/ha at 15 dS.m-1

Yield at 5 dS m-1 ranged from 13 to 37 t ha-1; at 10 dS m-1 from 10 to 31 t ha-1; and at 15 dS m-1 from 8 to 27 t ha-1.

Sorghum

Salt tolerant crops improvementCase Studies….


Protecting water resources and combating salinity in Oman

The national strategy aims at conserving water resources in Oman from pollution and salinization

• Assessment salinity of groundwater resources• Assess the economic costs due to salinity• Identify technical and management practices• Develop sustainable IWR management practices• Capacity building of Omani institutions

Saline Water ManagementCase Studies….


Case Studies….

BIOSAFOR (Agroforestry) system for wastelands

Identified available wastelands (salt-affected soils)

Saline Water Management


Screening & evaluation of salt-

tolerant tree species

Micro Level

Case history of potential

plantations

Mid Level

Mapping salt affected areas for growing potential Bio-Energy tree

species

Macro Level

Case Studies….Saline Water Management


Biosaline Agriculture Development Program at the NPC Site, Al-Laith, Saudi Arabia

Utilization of return seawater for the production of halophytes for forage, environmental beautification, biomass energy and organic fertilizers.



Sea water based agriculture in coastal desert areas



OIL

Each barrel of oil produces 7-13 barrels of polluted waterDaily water production exceeds 300,000 m3

Water contains oil and heavy metals residues

H2OH2O

H2OH2O

H2O

Case Studies….Salinity Management

Phyto-remediation of oil polluted water in Oman


Improvement in the existing

system



Production system(s) using Returned Water



Biosaline agriculture has great potential in the arid and semi-arid regions faced with scarcity of fresh water and availability of marginal water.There is a big demand for fodder/forage, bioenergyand other cash crops in the region to meet the local and regional demands.Fresh water need to be diverted for cash crops and other important sectors, whereas, marginal resources and lands can be used effectively to meet part of the agriculture demands.R&D work done by ICBA in partner countries/regions has shown the technical and commercial viability of the technologies. Some of these are now in the phase of up-scaling by national partners.

Conclusions


Thank You!

role of biosaline agriculture faisal taha

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