September 2020

For Media Enquiries

Abdumutalib Begmuratov

Head of Knowledge Management and Communications

A.Begmuratov@biosaline.org.ae
+971 4 304 63 45

Called the power of triple noon or 3N (derived from the Arabic letter ن, which is pronounced as noon), the initiative was launched on Zayed Humanitarian Day (19th day of the month of Ramadan), and represented three key actions: grow, harvest and share.
As part of the initiative, ICBA worked together with local partners and authorities to promote sustainable agriculture and urban farming.
In collaboration with the Emirates Red Crescent, ICBA also shared produce from its fields and greenhouses: 4 tonnes of dates; 1.6 tonnes of fresh vegetables, including cucumber and capsicum; 400 kilograms of watermelon; as well as 7 tonnes of pearl millet green fodder and 5.2 tonnes of forage produced from halophytic grasses and crops like Salicornia and amaranth.

New community initiative supports food security efforts in UAE

30 September 2020

The International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) has successfully completed a unique community initiative aimed at raising public awareness about agriculture and food production under local conditions and contributing to broader food security efforts in the UAE.

As part of the initiative, ICBA worked together with local partners and authorities to promote sustainable agriculture and urban farming.

The study – which was conducted in three regions of Tunisia, namely Beja (a sub-humid region), Kairouan (a semi-arid region), and Medenine (an arid region) - shows that Batini performed well in salt-affected arid areas when irrigated with water with a salinity level of up to 15 deciSiemens per meter (dS/m).

Salt-tolerant barley shows promise for boosting farmers’ yields, incomes in Tunisia

25 September 2020

A new study has found that farmers in arid and salt-affected areas of Tunisia can reduce their water costs by 49 percent and yield losses from 70 to 8 percent if they switch from a salt-sensitive local barley variety called Konouz to a salt-tolerant one called Batini from Oman.

The project focuses on the development of a value chain for Salicornia by creating innovative Salicornia-based food products. So far, Salicornia and fish have been introduced oneight farms in the UAE using intermediate upscaling methodologies adopting the Integrated Agri-Aquaculture Systems (IAAS) approach.
Led by ICBA and titled "From desert farm to fork: value chain development for innovative halophyte-based food products", the project is implemented in partnership with ADAFSA, EAD, Global Food Industries LLC, and the Max Planck Institute, Germany.

Developing value chains for halophyte-based food products in UAE

20 September 2020

The International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) is working with several government and private entities in the UAE to develop value chains for food products from halophytic plants.