Dessert farming is developing agriculture in deserts or drylands. Plants basically need water, so farming in the deserts has become challenging in the first place. The desserts only receive no more than 25 centimetres (10 inches) of precipitation a year.
The population is predicted to be 10.5 billion in the year 2050. As the population grows the demand for food will also grow. Our world has limited farmland to produce food sufficient for the growing world population. Even though vertical farming has seemed to be a solution to food production, it has been limited to some crops and is economically not viable in most countries.
The desserts are empty spaces around the globe and even desertification has become a huge problem for the world. People are finding ways to utilize the desserts to converting them to farming lands, by the way, the desertification can be stopped.1/5th of the world's arable lands are on threat of desertification.
The livestock seems more feasible in the desserts rather than growing crops. Water scarcity is the major issue faced by the farmers in deserts. Both livestock and crops require water for their survival. A single cattle consume 25 - 30 gallons of water per day while corn needs 2- 3 inches * of water annually. The sand storms are another problem we have to face when we start desert farming.
Technology has helped to overcome those issues. Water reuse, desalinization, and drip irrigation are some of the modern agriculture technologies used in desert farming. Net houses, greenhouses, and hydroponics farming emerging as protected agriculture initiatives for dessert farming.
Direct foreign investments are needed to fulfill the investment of dessert conversion projects.
Case Studies Across the Globe
China's Green Great Wall
27.4% of land in China under the threat of desertification. If this continues, China's food production will face a severe problem. But this is not limited to China alone, the world's desertification rates has accelerated over recent decades. The global annual desertification rates are 1.3 percent.
China came with a solution " Green Great Wall", China's project in 1978 in the Gobi Desert and aiming to provide timber to the local population. Where the Chinese expect to make a greener environment instead of sandy deserts.
Israel Farming in Desserts
Israel is known as a " miracle in the desert" for its miraculous desert farming technologies. The Israeli company Netafim invented modern drip irrigation technology in the 1960s which reduces the water for agriculture or the plants. Also, they have developed saline-resistance and drought-resistant crop varieties.
( Updated 20th. December 2020 )
Links:
https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/extreme-environments-farming-in-the-sahara-desert-27e8a89dff06
https://www.touristisrael.com/israels-desert-agriculture/10334/
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