Scientists in the Netherlands say they are close to a breakthrough which will allow crops to be grown in deserts. Many say this could completely alter life on the African continent and even end hunger.
World leaders meeting at the climate talks in Germany are being urged to commit to more funding for new agricultural projects in drought-stricken parts of the world.
Usually it will take huge amount of water to cultivate tomatoes, but now, scientist have reduced it to virtually nothing and they even grow the fruits in insulation material rather than soil. They use only rain water and recyled water and can also be done with almost every vegetable.
This new form of agriculture will not stock the Western world’s supermarkets but for the rest who are hungry. If you could grow vegetables with no soil and almost no water, then you can grow them anywhere.
You can grow them in the dessert where there is drought. So there is a growing realization that this technology could be used to fight famine.
Dessertification of agricultural land is turning many into climate refugees. Sientists are finding more radical solutions, like extracting bacterial from plants which can cope in the dessert and putting them into crops.
Incredibly, the scientists believe that the dessert of the world are a huge agricultural opportunity. They think they’re 2 years away from planting crops in the sand.
The message here to western politicians is that climate change form an intergral part of the refugee crisis, and offering solutions has benefits everywhere.
For the politicians of the rich countries, it is becoming possible to effect an incredible change if they really want to.
