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Ensuring sustainable agriculture in hot climates
Nasser Alkhalaf, Managing Director, Agrico
• Agriculture in Qatar
• Qatar’s Agricultural Challenges• Environment Challenges
Water
Soil
Climate
• Agrico Green Houses
• Waste Management Solutions
Agenda
Transformation: A New Era for the Agri-nutrients Industry
Agriculture in Qatar
Qatar is a peninsula located in the Arabian Gulf and is classified geographically as a hot subtropical desert
Transformation: A New Era for the Agri-nutrients Industry
Agriculture in Qatar
Due to its harsh climate and limited arable land, Qatar’s agricultural sector has historically been very limited
1,149,300
65,000 11,590
Total area of Qatar
Cultivable land
Cultivated land
*Area in hectares
Transformation: A New Era for the Agri-nutrients Industry
Qatar’s Agricultural Challenges
Hot Desert Climate Limited Fresh Water Scarce Arable Land
Transformation: A New Era for the Agri-nutrients Industry
Environmental Challenges: Water
• Water scarcity
• High water salinity
• Elevated water temperature
• The scarcity of fresh water resources has led the government to adopt and develop an extensive desalination infrastructure
Transformation: A New Era for the Agri-nutrients Industry
Environment Challenges: Water solution
Desalination and Storage
• Installation of high capacity Reverse
Osmosis (RO) water desalination plant
• Desalinated water filtered and treated
to ensure consistent water quality
• Desalinated and treated water is
stored in climate controlled warehouse
Transformation: A New Era for the Agri-nutrients Industry
Environment Challenges: Water solution
Irrigation System
Essential nutrients for each crop variety are
added as required to the treated water via the
irrigation system
Transformation: A New Era for the Agri-nutrients Industry
Environment Challenges: Soil
• Scarcity of arable land
• Predominantly limestone based, sandy soil
• High salinity
Transformation: A New Era for the Agri-nutrients Industry
Environment Challenges: Soil Solutions
• Hydroponic principles applied to mitigate soil challenges
• Grow bags filled with coconut fibre were used to replace soil and support plant roots
• Coconut fibre has good water retention characteristics
Transformation: A New Era for the Agri-nutrients Industry
Environment Challenges: Climate
• Qatar is classified as a hot subtropical desert;
• Hot and humid summers
• Mild winters with minimal rainfall
• Sandstorms are common occurrences
Transformation: A New Era for the Agri-nutrients Industry
Climate Solution: International Green Houses
• International greenhouse systems introduced
• 20 000 m2 system in 2011• 23 000 m2 system in 2013• 40,000 m2 system in 2014
• Imported systems were designed to retain heat and humidity, need in Qatar is the opposite
• We decided to adapt the greenhouses to suit local environmental conditions in Qatar
Transformation: A New Era for the Agri-nutrients Industry
Climate Solution:Qatari Green Houses
• We started local fabrication of greenhouses
• The galvanised steel frames were treated with white epoxy coating to improve corrosion resistance and to assist in maintaining a lower temperature
Transformation: A New Era for the Agri-nutrients Industry
Climate Solution:Qatari Green Houses
Green House Material and Shading
• New greenhouse design incorporates polycarbonate/PE material coated to reduce impact of ambient sunlight
• Retractable shading is now part of the green house roof structure
• Original greenhouse material retained heat
• Design of structure over the green house roofs to give shade prone to maintenance issues
Transformation: A New Era for the Agri-nutrients Industry
Climate Solution:Weather Station
Weather stations have been installed in each
greenhouse to measure:
• Amount of sun radiation entering the greenhouse
• PH, EC and water temperature
• Air temperature and humidity level
Transformation: A New Era for the Agri-nutrients Industry
Climate Solution:Climate Control System
• A climate control system was developed for
Agrico greenhouses
• System components includes fans, cooling
pads and conventional air conditioners
• Agrico has developed the operational
knowledge to adjust the climate control
system to cater for:
• Elevated temperatures
• Changes in relative humidity
• Adjustments for day and night conditions
• Specific crop and seasonal requirements
Transformation: A New Era for the Agri-nutrients Industry
Climate Solution:Greenhouse Climate
Temperature Humidity
Transformation: A New Era for the Agri-nutrients Industry
Agrico Green Houses
Green House
• With the original specifications,
the number of greenhouses was 8
• With the adapted specifications,
the number of greenhouses was
reduced to 6
Transformation: A New Era for the Agri-nutrients Industry
Energy Efficiency Improvement
• Air expelled from the greenhouses is still significantly cooler than ambient air
• Cooled air from the greenhouses was used to cool areas between the greenhouses which was used for additional crop varieties
• Areas between the greenhouses were used to grow more heat resistant qualities such banana, papaya, mango, figs
Transformation: A New Era for the Agri-nutrients Industry
Energy Efficiency Improvement
Transformation: A New Era for the Agri-nutrients Industry
Waste Management Solutions
Crop residues were composted and used for planting and improving soil quality
Thank youwww.gpca.org.ae
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