New York, NY (PRWEB) October 04, 2013
Advancing Eco Agriculture, a commercial agricultural company that helps farmers produce disease and insect resistant crops using plant nutritional supplements, discusses the educational efforts by a group from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to inform local farming communities of ways to improve their sustainable agricultural practices and mitigate crop damage caused by climate change.
According to an August 22, 2013 article published by The National, entitled, “Sustainable farming ideas spread across UAE,” a Dubai agricultural center is “increasing its reach in improving farming practices across the region to reverse damage caused by climate change.” Since its launch two years ago, the Dh22 million project, by the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture, has taught 750 farmers from eight different Middle East countries and has plans to educate another 750 within a year’s time.
Dr. Abdullah Dakheel, who is head of the project, says, “The objective is to spread into more farming communities in terms of number, quality and intensity on the farm. We want to have more activities done with farmers.”
The project, which involves the UAE, Oman, Yemen, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Egypt and Tunisia, “seeks to help farmers make their land more resilient to changing environmental conditions.” Researchers have identified crops and seeds that could survive and continue to grow in a desert climate which would therefore improve the yield and quality of food being produced.
John Kempf, CEO of Advancing Eco Agriculture commends the agriculture community in the Middle East for recognizing the power of working with soil and plant health to drive crop yield and food quality. “Clearly this large-scale initiative can be a powerful influence to improve existing farming practices in the Middle East. Farming requires consistent adaptability and perseverance, especially during climate extremes. Plants which are really healthy have an enhanced ability to tolerate stress from weather conditions and climate extremes. As plants become healthier they produce higher levels of lipids as energy storage compounds. These lipids serve as a backup battery and a buffer to supply the plants energy needs during climate extremes. Lipids also create stronger cell membranes, reducing evaporation and allowing plants to conserve their precious water resources. I hope their ongoing education efforts recognize the role and the importance of plant health and immunity in helping agriculture systems become resilient in arid environments. Advancing Eco-Agriculture (AEA), has created models for understanding the soil-plant system and how the performance of this system can be optimized with plant nutrition supplied at Critical Points of Influence (CPI’s) Our product technologies and consulting services help farmers around the world to grow healthier crops, regenerate soil health and improve farm economics. Our mission is to help farmers produce top quality, healthy, disease and insect resistant, and high yielding crops by using a systems based approach to providing complete plant nutrition.