Several greenhouses stand in a row in the middle of the desert in Aqaba in Jordan. In there, 18 young Syrians and Jordanians will spend 14 weeks, together with peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers. 12 of them are refugees. 13 of them women. They will learn to grow vegetables with the help of solar power and desalinated seawater. United in photosynthesis, green and red abound in the greenhouses. – Education of Jordanian youth and Syrian refugees, especially women, in sustainable agriculture is an important step towards increased income and food security, says Norway’s ambassador to Jordan, Espen Lindbæk. Future for refugees and women The training program has been prepared by the Norwegian Sahara Forest Project. Together with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), they work for food security and education for a sustainable future. Several different technologies are combined. Electricity from solar power is used to make fresh water from seawater. The salt water is used to cool down the greenhouses, while the fresh water waters the vegetables in the greenhouses. Surplus water is then used to revegetate the desert outside the greenhouses. TOMATOES IN THE DESERT: Syrian and Jordanian students learn agriculture in greenhouses in the desert. Photo: Wael Liddawi / Sahara Forest Project The project is highlighted in the UN Climate Panel’s (IPCC) latest interim report. There it is referred to as a good way to increase access to water and food, and to increase carbon uptake. A sustainable future The Sahara Forest Project has been working in Jordan since 2011. The test facility there was financed by the Ministry of Climate and Environment, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the EU. It was opened by Crown Prince Håkon and King Abdullah in 2017. Upscaling is now planned at facilities in Jordan and Tunisia. ROYAL OPENING: Former climate minister Vidar Helgesen (R), Crown Prince Haakon and former Norwegian ambassador to Jordan Tone Allers examine the cucumber plants during the opening of the Sahara Forest Project’s facility in Aqaba in 2017. Photo: KHALIL MAZRAAWI / AFP They will be able to produce 50 MW of solar energy, house 50 hectares of greenhouses that can produce 34,000 tonnes of vegetables and provide work for 800 people, as well as store more than 8,000 tonnes of CO₂ annually, the IPCC refers. Since 2020, 50 female Jordanian engineers have participated in a training program at the Sahara Forest Project. Now a further 18 students in their 20s will be prepared for the future. The team includes Al Hussein Technical University in Jordan. STUDENTS: 13 of the new students learning how to grow vegetables in the middle of the desert in Jordan are women. Photo: Wael Liddawi / Sahara Forest Project The university’s president, Professor Ismael Al Hinti, hails the partnership. He says the program creates expertise in state-of-the-art technology that will provide competitive advantages in the future labor market for the students who participate. – I want to thank all the participants for signing up for this program, and I hope we can inspire each other to increase climate-smart agriculture in Jordan, said Sahara Forest Project’s managing director Kjetil Stake when the program was launched in Amman recently. Saving water The Sahara Forest Project plans to hire the best students when the project scales up in 2023. – But what about the rest of them? Surely there are limited greenhouses in the desert that are powered by solar power and seawater? – What they learn is useful for many agricultural sectors in Jordan. The most important thing is a climate-friendly way of thinking. There is a shift in agriculture in Jordan and more people are thinking like us and switching to more water-efficient, hydroponic cultivation now. We use only one-tenth as much water as traditional agriculture. That expertise will be in great demand, says Stake. Climate-neutral vegetables for Europe The plan is not to outcompete local farmers. The vegetables are going to Europe, not to consumers in the Middle East. For Europe, green fodder is needed when electricity prices are so high that many greenhouses face a cold and dark winter. Jordan has more than enough sun to share. THE GREEN DESERT: CEO Kjetil Stake in front of plants growing in the desert where the Sahara Forest Project is based. Photo: Sahara Forest Project The Norwegian company envisions another advantage with the desert-bred vegetables. Planting the desert around the greenhouses will make the vegetables climate neutral. So-called revegetation is carried out outside the greenhouses. Trees and plants will grow out of the sand. With the help of excess water from the greenhouses and compost from the operation, new ecosystems will be formed. The vegetation must be able to store so much carbon that it zeroes out any emissions from vegetable production. – We envisage 1 square kilometer of desert forest in the first instance. But it is really only the imagination that sets limits to the potential when we combine water with energy in a climate-smart way, Stake asserts.
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Refugees learn to grow climate-smart vegetables in the desert
