Saudi Arabia used its banknote ability to change its life against the sky, spending nearly 30 years to create an agricultural miracle in the desert. When viewed from above, it looks like green discs. So why did Saudi Arabia grow food in the desert? Why are all these farmlands round?
Desert wonders! Why is farmland round?
On closer inspection, the crops inside these green discs are thriving, while the outside is still deserted, and the boundary line can be described as distinct. But this is not a strange phenomenon, thanks to a central pivot irrigation system.
This system was first invented in 1948 by a farmer in Nebraska. One end of it is connected to a huge bucket that pumps groundwater as a water source. Mainly through hundreds of meters of aqueducts, through pressurization, the water flow is transmitted to the other end.
The whole process, with the bucket as the center and the water pipe as the radius, rotates and moves like an hour hand. Therefore, the work area is naturally divided into a disc.
In addition, the device is also equipped with an intelligent detection system, which automatically uploads data every 20 minutes, allowing operators to monitor in real time without having to run to the desert, saving time and effort. So, speaking of which, why does Saudi Arabia have to grow food in the desert?
Why Saudi Arabia grows food in the desert
In fact, although Saudi Arabia has a land area of only 2.25 million square kilometers, the desert area is as high as 860,000 square kilometers. With the Great Nevde Desert in the north and the Rub Khali Desert in the south, it is the second largest desert country in the world.
Therefore, Saudi Arabia has a Mediterranean climate except for the western plateau, and all other regions have a subtropical desert climate. Summer highs can reach more than 50 degrees Celsius, and the average annual rainfall does not exceed 200 mm.
As a result, up to 70 per cent of semi-arid wasteland or low-grade grassland in Saudi Arabia is covered by about 3.44 million hectares, or only 1.5 per cent of the land area. Permanent grassland also accounts for only 1.9%, about 3.785 million hectares, and only 0.5% of forest land. It can be said that Saudi Arabia's development in agriculture has inherent disadvantages.
But fortunately, Saudi Arabia is not poor in money. Oil revenues alone will be $326 billion in 2022. According to the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China, Saudi Arabia approved 92 billion riyals in financial support for the environment, water and agriculture sectors. The Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development Programme had also been launched and 7.35 billion riyals had been allocated to achieve full food self-sufficiency by 2030.
So, the mainland desert area is also as high as 700,000 square kilometers, how did the mainland turn the desert into farmland?
How the continent turned deserts into farmland
From the perspective of mechanics, the research team of Professor Yi Zhijian of Chongqing Jiaotong University added a plant fiber adhesive to the sand to form a universal constraint between the sand grains, obtaining the same ecological structure as natural soil. When wet, it exhibits a rheological state similar to thin sludge, and after drying, it forms a solid. The two states are freely transformed, thus achieving self-healing and regulation.
Based on this technology, in 2022, the mainland planted 2,300 mu of farmland in the Kubuqi Desert on a trial basis, and achieved good demonstration results. Among them, potato mu yields 4,000 kg, sunflower mu yields 240 kg. All fruits and vegetables, including more than 20 kinds of crops such as sorghum, wolftail, alfalfa and corn, were shipped to Chongqing for sale and were widely welcomed by the market.
In addition, in order to carry out the desert soil project smoothly, the base also invested 3.4 million yuan to carry out the ecological shelter forest project of wind prevention and sand fixation, planted more than 90,000 weeping willows, spruce, sand willows, and more than 2,100 mu of sand barriers and poplar firewood, supporting a green umbrella for the farmland.