Doha It is as if you are building a house in the air, or planting a tree in the clouds. With these words, the process of hydroponics can be described “without soil.” Although this agricultural idea appeared some time ago, it found great momentum during the Qatar Horticultural Expo 2023, by presenting an innovative model based on desalinating water used in plants and fish farming, in addition to recycled materials.
The Horticulture Pavilion – affiliated with Hamad Bin Khalifa University – at the Expo focused entirely on “soilless” hydroponics as one of the most important future innovations for desert countries or countries that lack the water resources necessary to produce food.
Agriculture cycle
The Horticulture Pavilion presented a miniature model of this type of agriculture during the exhibition activities held in Doha until next March.
Those in charge of the pavilion told Al Jazeera Net that they present a miniature and innovative model of the “soilless” hydroponics process, which relies on growing plants inside vertical tubes.
The plants – which are mostly herbaceous – feed on the water received from pumps that operate with the utmost precision, similar to the blood circulation in the human body, according to those in charge of this pavilion.
After the water covers the plants, it heads to another path, in underground pipes, carrying with it the sediments from the irrigation process to the fish farm ponds, which are topped with another layer of plants that feed from the water, which shows the importance of aquaculture in establishing new projects in the field of fish farming and improving local fish production. .
Those in charge of the “Horticulture” pavilion explain that the soilless agriculture project depends entirely on recycled water, pointing out that there is a small model inside the pavilion that monitors the water re-desalination cycle from the beginning all the way to multiple uses, whether in irrigating plants or feeding fish in ponds.
Those in charge of the pavilion revealed that the hydroponics project in the pavilion is primarily a student project, and will be transferred to the Qatar Foundation after the end of the exhibition to conduct further research aimed at expanding the scope of benefit from this type of advanced agriculture that resists the difficult climates in desert environments.
The Horticulture Pavilion at Expo Doha works to consolidate the concept of greening the desert, which constitutes an opportunity to discuss innovative solutions that address the problem of water shortages and desertification, and allow dealing with climate change.
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The pavilion also works to create a platform that brings together people and ideas to accelerate the pace of innovation, creativity, research and scientific progress in the field of modern agriculture to produce safe and sustainable food for the world’s population.
Agricultural digital transformation
Expo 2023 Doha supports horticulture to benefit from the latest research and innovations in the field of agricultural technologies and methods, especially in the field of agricultural digital transformation, in order to achieve efficiency in production and ensure sustainability and preservation of natural resources.
Hydroponics efforts contribute to:
- Developing services and localizing agricultural facilities
- Enhancing local production by expanding the use of advanced crop production techniques suitable for local climatic conditions to increase cultivated areas.
- Implementing projects to improve the efficiency of irrigation water use in agriculture, through the use of modern irrigation systems.
The Secretary-General of the International Horticultural Exhibition, Expo Doha 2023, Muhammad Ali Al-Khouri, confirmed that the organizing committee worked to attract all global technologies that contribute to reducing desertification, increasing the green area and agricultural lands, and preserving the small water resources present in the Gulf.
He added that the committee is working to encourage investors to invest in modern agriculture, and to use new technologies that conserve water, such as: agriculture with hydroponic technology, agriculture with vertical pipes, and agriculture with high-tech hydroponic technology.
Al-Khouri explained that the exhibition showcases a number of experiments with modern agricultural systems introduced by Qatari farms, which have many advantages in increasing the green area.
High productivity
Qatari businessman Nasser Al-Khalaf said that he represents one of the Qatari companies working in the field of developing agriculture and agricultural production using advanced technologies to save water, achieve sustainability, and obtain high crop productivity.
Al-Khalaf added – in an interview with Al Jazeera Net – that he is already applying these techniques on his own farms, and mentioned that there are modern agricultural systems applicable in desert countries in particular, such as: hydroponic, aquaponics, and lighting agriculture.
He explained that lighting agriculture, for example, is one of the modern advanced systems in which agriculture is carried out in a completely closed environment using LED lighting, which contributes to the production of many crops, without any relation to the outside temperature.
Al-Khalaf reviewed the aquaponic cultivation system, where plants are irrigated with fish farming water when it is recycled. This contributes to the plants obtaining the agricultural fertilizers necessary for their growth, as fish waste contains organic nutrients such as ammonia.
Students from Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar succeeded in designing various other models in the vicinity of the “Horticulture” pavilion at the exhibition. In addition to the vertical cultivation of plants inside tubes, there is another type of panel cultivation known as the “green house,” which is similar to an integrated green surface divided into squares, each square containing a type of plant that feeds according to a very precise irrigation system.
