CAIRO: At a time when the water crisis afflicts the region, threatening to be a cause of conflict: saline agriculture, or agriculture using salty water, has emerged as a potential solution to the a problem compounded by desertification and the lack of rainfall. Specialists don't pin much hope on this new type of agriculture that is currently being experimented with, but the specter of conflict over water resources is driving them to press ahead with research. Some specialists believe this to be an ideal option since 97 percent of earth is covered in water and deserts account for 43 percent of its surface area. If successfully implemented, saline agriculture techniques could save a considerable part of our water reserves and boost food production which still relies on the use of river water and the depletion of other natural resources. "Following extensive research, we've started to apply saline agriculture along the Suez Gulf coast, Medhat Michael Tawfik, agriculture specialist at the National Research Center in Cairo told The Daily Star Egypt. "The encouraging results of experimentation along the Suez Gulf coast are giving us hope that this new method could boost the production of animal fodder and several types of oil, added Tawfik. He explained: "Initially research projects had human consumption in mind. They tried to intervene with the genetics of some crops like wheat and barley to increase their resistance to salt. But so far such attempts haven't yielded any products that could be grown using sea water. "The highest level of salinity that could be absorbed only by palm trees has been estimated at 5 milimose/cm . No plants or crops that we know of can tolerate the salinity level of the sea water that reaches between 35 and 40 milimose/cm. Sea water is also rich in sodium chloride that is harmful to growing plants. According to Tawfik, salt-tolerant crops are the focus of saline agriculture. These plants are scientifically known as "halophytes, which grow in salty soils and are ideal for use as animal fodder or for the production of oil and other medical substances. Tawfik continued: "Some North African countries began producing the halophyte seeds and crops. Over the years, specialists have collected salt-resistant plants and categorized them according to their nutritional value and level of salinity. Their studies revealed that between 2,000 and 3,000 of these plants appear in the shape of herbs, trees or bushes. Because saline agriculture relies on sea water, the ideal soil is that which skirts sea coasts. Some 295 hectares of desert land is located close to the sea, 17 percent of which (50 million hectares) are arable. (One hectare is 10,000 square meters.) "Halophytes can yield copious production in spite of the adverse effect of salty watering because other factors including the mild winter, the absence of other plants and worms that share the soil and the ability of the halophytes to absorb sunlight have all bolstered their status as salt-resistant plants. One of the obstacles facing saline agriculture is water management. "It's very important to resist the accumulation of salt, especially at the level of the root. In traditional agriculture, watering is carried out when the humidity level drops to 550. "But with saline agriculture, the salinity level around the roots becomes two times that of sea water when the humidity level of the soil decreases. To avoid loss, the growing halophytes should be regularly washed away with water to prevent the concentration of salts. The specialist said that the large areas along the sea coast in the country would soon be integrated into the development plans related to animal production and the oil industry, especially in dry zones. Sea water will, for the first time, appear as an alternative for potable water. The World Bank's report on water issued in 1993 highlighted that the quota of water in the Arab world that stood at 3,430 cubic meters per capita in 1960 would decrease by 580 percent to reach 667 cubic meters per capita by 2025. But amid these fears, experts still question whether saline agriculture could yield human food production for an increasing world population.
