Parched Jordan to grow vegetables in desert

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Jordan, a water-thirsty country with deserts covering 90 percent of its total surface area, is planning to turn its sand dunes into farming land to produce food using sun and seawater.

King Abdullah II and Norway's Crown Prince Haakon attended on Thursday a ceremony to mark the official opening of the "Sahara Forest Project" near the southern port city of Aqaba.

In a first stage, the project aims to produce up to 130 tons of organic vegetables every year from an area the size of four football pitches.

Crown Prince Haakon of Norway (L) and King Abdullah II of Jordan (C) visit the Sahara Forest Project. /AFP Photo

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.

The project, whose funders include Norway and the European Union, will be expanded at a later stage from three hectares (seven acres) to around 200 hectares (490 acres) of desert.

"This is a project that has a great promise for the future," Norway's Haakon told journalists.

"It is impressive to see how technology can be used in such a sustainable way to produce agricultural goods in a quite tough climate like here."

The project's director, Joakim Hauge, said the scheme tapped into Jordan's existing resources.

"Jordan has a lot of sunlight, it has a lot of desert, it has sea water, it has CO2. That is what we need to produce food, water and renewable energy," he said.

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Source(s): AFP