Over 250 million people are directly affected by desertification. In addition, some one
thousand million (or one billion) people in over one hundred countries are at risk. These
people include many of the world’s poorest, most marginalized, and politically weak
citizens. (Source: The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification: An Explanatory
Leaflet) Worldwide, desertification is making approximately 12 million hectares useless for
cultivation every year. This is equal to 10% of the total area of South Africa or 87% of the
area of cultivated lands in our country.
One of the effects of desertification is the undermining of local food production which can
act as a contributing factor towards famine. By impoverishing the natural potential of the
ecosystems, desertification reduces agricultural yields, making them more unpredictable. It
therefore affects the food security of the people living in the affected areas. The people
develop a survival strategy in order to attend to their most urgent requirements, and this in
turn helps to aggravate desertification and hold up development. The most immediate and
frequent consequence of these survival attitudes is the increased over-exploitation of
accessible natural resources. While there are a number of organizations working to slow
and even reverse this trend, there are millions of people who are currently facing food
shortages as a direct result of desertification. What if there was a way to grow food in the
desert using a fraction of the resources needed for traditional farming?
Growing underground is a technology that could happen today. Envision a large
underground structure, buried deep enough to prevent the scorching desert sun from
overheating the grow rooms. No need for cooling or heating thanks to mother earth. The
growing would be done with led grow lights, using a small array of photo voltaic panels on
the surface, backed up by a battery room within the grow room. Year around crops of
vegetables, wheat, or whatever the market needs. All free of pests, pesticides, wind
damage, using only sips of water and nutrient due to the non-hostile growing environment
of LGM lighting. Large growing operations could be setup in the deserts of the world,
where land is inexpensive and food is in high demand. Worth researching? We think so…
CEO SolarOasis