Adoption of Technology to Grow Food in the Desert

Across UAE, all Emirates have their food authorities and governance that overlook food imports, exports, and overall growth and trade of agriculture. One additional common thing between all 7 Emirates is a combined focus on importing and adopting technical expertise and technology to grow various crops and foods and slowly wean away from relying on imported foodstuffs from the rest of the world.

At a farm in Ras Al Khaimah, revolutionary technology makes the most of a ubiquitous material – sand. It has helped transform the desert grounds into 4,800-square-foot arable land to plant vegetables and fruits. About 800 fig trees planted inside a greenhouse in December are already bearing fruit. Earlier, the trees had to be watered every day for five minutes.

However, with the "breathable sand" or Rechsand technology, the trees only need to be watered once in two days for two to three minutes. “The farm's water consumption has been reduced by 80%,” said Chandra Dake, founder of Dake Group in South Africa. Besides water retention, Rechsand has another unique characteristic; it allows air to pass through it. An additional 100,000 square meters of land in Ras Al Khaimah is being prepared to produce figs next year, which could be used for exports.