Role of biosaline agriculture Faisal Taha

THE ROLE OF BIOSALINE
AGRICULTURE TO COPE WITH WATER
SCARCITY IN THE WANA REGION

Faisal Taha and Shoaib Ismail
International Center for Biosaline Agriculture,
Dubai, UAE.
International 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


Annual renewable water
resources worldwide
Aus/NZ
LAC
N America
ECA
SSA
EAP
W Europe
SA
WANA

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

1000 m3 / year


Extent of Salinity

North/Central Europe 51 m ha Asia 299 mha
America: 21 mha

South America 129 mha
Africa 81 mha
Australasia 357 mha


Alternative water resources ………
Why & Where?
RENEWABLE WATER RESOURCES
Agriculture consumption of water resources

0 25 50 75
Re-used Water

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


Extent of Saline Water in the
WANA Region
Country Usable Brackish Salinity Basin (s) Equivalent Potential Land for Total Percent Potential
Water Resources Ranges Fresh Water Biosaline Irrigated Area Land for Biosaline
(million m3/year) (ppm) Volume Agriculture (Hectare) Agriculture of Total
(million m3/year) (Hectare) Irrigated Area
Col 1 Col 2 Col 3 Col 4 Col 5
(1-LR) x Col 1 Col 1/WR Col 3/ Col 4
Jordan 246 3,000-10,000 Jordan Valley, 197 25,900 63,000 41%
Wadi Araba,
Southern Ghors
Syria 768 4,000-8,000 Palmyra, 640 74,600 693,000 11%
Sewwanah
Oman 320 6,000-15,000 Najd, Central 256 25,200 58,000 43%
Region
Yemen 300 3,000-8,000 Tihama Plain 250 38,500 348,000 11%
Algeria 470 4,000-16,000 South Valley, 392 87,000 384,000 23%
Ouargla Basin,
Oued Rhir Valley

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

Tunisia 333 5,000- >7,500 South and 278 47,600 300,000 16%
Central Regions
Total 2,645 3,000-16,000 2,185 331,800 2,316,000 14%


Biosaline Agriculture

Brackish and Marginal and
saline water saline land
Salt-tolerant
plant production
systems

Irrigated/
supplementary
irrigated agriculture


The Challenge…….

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)

Develop integrated approach of soil, water and
crops

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


Saline water that can be used…..
Water Class EC TDS Type of Water
(dS/m) (ppm)

Non-saline < 0.7 < 500 Drinking and irrigation water

Slightly-saline 0.7 - 2 500 – 1,500 Irrigation water

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

Highly-saline 10 - 25 7,000 – 15,000 Secondary drainage & groundwater

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

Brine > 45 > 35,000 Seawater

Brackish water: 2 – 25 dS/m
1,500 – 15,000 ppm

Targeted Salinity Ranges

Salinity Salinity Range Production
Classification 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

The Chain………..
RESOURCES MANAGEMENT MARKET’S

Salt-affected Production systems Products
environments


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.

Case Studies….
Salt tolerant crops improvement
Forage Project for WANA region
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….
Salt tolerant crops improvement

Pearl millet
Total 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

Sorghum
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.

Case Studies….
Saline Water Management
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

Case Studies….
BIOSAFOR (Agroforestry)
system for wastelands

Identified
available
wastelands
(salt-affected
soils)

Case Studies….
Mapping salt
affected areas for
growing potential
Case history of Bio-Energy tree
potential species
Screening & plantations
evaluation of salt-
tolerant tree
species

Macro Level
Mid Level
Micro Level

Case Studies….
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.


Case Studies….
Sea water based agriculture in coastal desert areas


Case Studies….
Salinity Management
Phyto-remediation of oil polluted water in
Oman

OIL H2 O
H2 O
H2 O
H2 O
H2 O

Each barrel of oil produces 7-13 barrels of
polluted water
Daily water production exceeds 300,000 m3
Water contains oil and heavy metals residues

Case Studies….
Salinity Management
Improvement
in the existing
system


Case Studies….
Salinity Management

Production system(s) using Returned Water


Conclusions
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, bioenergy
and 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.

Thank You!

Role of biosaline agriculture Faisal Taha

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