UAE Starts Cultivating Korean Rice in Inner Desert

Government of the United Arab Emirates ( UAE) has announced cultivating two  types of Korean rice in the inner parts of the desert.

First harvest of the crop is expected next April.

Experts of agriculture succeeded in surmounting obstacles linked to planting in a highly-tense-alkali sandy soil.

Well-placed  sources pointed out  that the unique experiment of cultivating rice in the desert was sponsored by government of the UAE since 2018.

It the first time in history that rice will be cropped in the desert.

Those sources pointed out that success of that promising project helps the UAE and other countries across the world, to face desertification.

This experiment provides an ambitious solution to the crisis of food shortage in the world nowadays.

The Korean Authority of Developing the Rural Areas supervising the experiment of cultivating rice in Al Zayd district in Al Sharjah Principality where  2275 square meters were cultivated with rice.

The UAE Ministry of Climate and Environment funds the project.

If that experiment succeeds the UAE will extend its results to another parts as sand covers 97% of its area.

The Korean experts tried to cultivate eight types of local rice in salty sand soil.

Two strands of rice known as Asimi  and FL478" were chosen.

https://www.irri.org/where-we-work/countries/south-korea

A Korean official said the two coming months will be decisive to prove either success or failure of the experiment.

The Government of the Republic of Korea has been collaborating with IRRI through the Rural Development Administration (RDA) since the 1960s. Their works include breeding of the temperate Japonica rice variety with the tropically grown indica variety. This produced the rice variety Tongil, which transformed Korea from a rice importer to a self-sufficient producer.

The South Korea-IRRI collaboration brought the Green Revolution to the country and helped transform Korea from a rice importer to a self-sufficient rice producer. Since then, Korea, has supported IRRI and completed 43 projects.

Key research areas in the IRRI-RDA collaboration include developing cold-tolerant rice lines, rapid multiplication of seeds, exchanging rice genetic materials for large-scale planting, and developing high-quality and high-yielding temperate japonica rice lines. IRRI is also interested in developing the capacity of farm workers and extension officers in South Korea, and building the scientific human capital of the country.