Mohamed, Spoons and Veggie gardens

A visit to Ibrahim's brother, Mohamed, was a highlight. We ate in Bedouin style, sitting on the floor at a low set table eating with our hands. I was encouraged to use my spoon after a while, no doubt due to my hopeless attempts to mimic my hosts. It turns out eating with your hand with some sort of refinement takes some practise.

Mohamed's garden growing with 5dSm water

Mohamed has some problems with saline water. 25 years ago, his water was 60 metres down; now it's over 300. He has lost a lot of mango trees that once covered his farm. There is an extensive vegetable garden and all manner of livestock. With ground water at a salinity level of 3000ppm tds (4.6dsm) I was surprised to see his veggies looking as good as they were. Making compost out of livestock manure is common here and I feel it's helping his veggies cope with the salt. I spoke with Dr Rao about this and he pointed out that most farmers have kept their own seed for years and have most likely built up a salt tolerance through natural selection.

Here is another amazing thing I learnt while out with Ibrahim, no one pays for water out here. At least not in the places I have been. This has lead to over watering. Land is also gifted and many land owners do not have anything to do with their land except receive payments from the UAE government to own it. There is talk of this changing in the future.

I'm very thankful to everyone at ICBA for making my time there a memorable and successful one.