Could hydroponics help water-parched Jordan?
"We are becoming more like a desert," Mohammed Al Barawi says, standing in front of rows of cucumber plants shielded by a greenhouse from the glaring late-summer sun. "Even last week we had temperatures of more than 40, 42 degrees [Celsius]. This is something we didn't have before."
Al Barawi, an agricultural engineer of 20 years, is worried. "Last year we hit 47. How can the plants live in 47-degree weather," he asks.
Jordan is one of the four driest countries in the world. It only has seven percent arable land. Water shortages, climate warming and a fast-growing population together create a looming food crisis for the country.
"The problem is aggressive and severe,” Jordanian water expert Dureid Mahasneh said, explaining that Jordan's agricultural sector alone consumes 65 percent of its water supply, while making up only around six percent of the GDP.
[Read the full article by Mersiha Gadzo via DW News.
[Photo by b inxee]
