(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Peninsula
Doha: A newly developed Al Waha hydroponics farm celebrated the first harvest of cucumbers grown according to the modern standards of hydroponic cultivation in Qatar. Al Waha farm is a new project of 80,000 m2 of soilless cultivation in greenhouses developed and built by Agrico, one of the leading farms and greenhouse developers in Qatar.
In this project Agrico has implemented its knowledge and expertise accumulated during 10 years of experience operating in protected agriculture in Qatar.
Al Waha farm is managed jointly by Agrico and Yara International ASA (Norway) under the farming excellence initiative that Yara rolls out across Qatar with the objective to introduce to the local farms the most sustainable crop management systems suited for the Qatari climate that help in achieving high yields and productivity while conserving precious local water resources.
The farm will produce fresh vegetables during 9-10 months of the year in hydroponics, a method of growing fruits and vegetables without the use of natural soil. Crops are grown in substrate that is constantly fed with nutrient solutions.
This way of growing reduces the risk of plants being exposed to soil diseases and allows saving of water, fertilizers and agro-chemicals. In addition yields in hydroponics are usually higher than in soil based cultivation, meaning more production using less land, fertilizers and water and the prevention of land contamination.
The team of growers of Al Waha farm has gone through extensive training on the Trial and Demonstration Centre that QAFCO, Agrico and Yara opened earlier this year. The first plantation of cucumbers in late April was carefully planned by Yara and Agrico agronomists to help in meeting the high demand for locally grown vegetables during the holly month of Ramadan.
Such late plantation in greenhouses without cooling was possible through combination of the applied greenhouse technology, selection of strong variety of seeds, fertigation and crop monitoring methods and skills of the growers at the farm.
This methodology would allow to extend the growing season for fresh vegetables in Qatar till June in greenhouses without cooling and demonstrate significant savings in use of water which is used for evaporative cooling.
All plants are constantly fed with nutrient solution via a drip irrigation system that precisely combines water and required nutrients. The nutrient solution is prepared from high quality water soluble fertilizers according to Yara nutrient management standards and is tailored for each crop and each stage of growth.
Different irrigation regimes and recipes are managed by a specialised fertigation computer. This analysis allows accurate monitoring of the quality of water, composition of the nutrients and nutrient absorption rate of plants and the correction of the nutrient recipes, if necessary.
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