ensuring sustainable agriculture in hot climates€¦ · limited fresh water hot desert climate...

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


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


Qatar’s Agricultural Challenges

Hot Desert Climate Limited Fresh Water Scarce Arable Land


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


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


Environment Challenges: Water solution

Irrigation System

Essential nutrients for each crop variety are

added as required to the treated water via the

irrigation system


Environment Challenges: Soil

• Scarcity of arable land

• Predominantly limestone based, sandy soil

• High salinity


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


Environment Challenges: Climate

• Qatar is classified as a hot subtropical desert;

• Hot and humid summers

• Mild winters with minimal rainfall

• Sandstorms are common occurrences


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


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


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


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


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


Climate Solution:Greenhouse Climate

Temperature Humidity


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


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


Energy Efficiency Improvement


Waste Management Solutions

Crop residues were composted and used for planting and improving soil quality

Thank youwww.gpca.org.ae

ensuring sustainable agriculture in hot climates€¦ · limited fresh water hot desert climate...

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