Sun and sea water powers vegetable farms in Jordan:

Sun and sea water powers vegetable farms in Jordan:

Context:

Jordan , has launched a project to turn its sand dunes into farming land to produce food using sun and sea water.

Introduction:

• King Abdullah II and Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon recently mark the official opening of the “Sahara Forest Project” near the southern port city of Aqaba.
• The director of the project is Joakim Hauge.

Facts about Jordon:

• Jordan has a lot of sunlight, it has a lot of desert, it has sea water, it has carbon dioxide.
• It is a water poor country with 90 per cent desert

Objectives of the project:

• In the first stage, the project aims to produce up to 130 tonnes of organic vegetables per year from an area the size of four football pitches.
• It will use solar panels to provide power and include outdoor planting space, two saltwater-cooled greenhouses, a water desalination unit and salt ponds for salt production.
• It will help in using technology that can be used in a sustainable way to produce agricultural goods in a quite tough climate.

Project funders:

• The project, whose funders include Norway and the European Union, is to be expanded from three hectares to around 200 hectares of desert.