Water and Energy for Food Grand Challenge (WE4F) Southern and Central Africa Regional Innovation Hub (S/CA RIH) has launched its first Call for Innovations, open to enterprises, non-profits and academic organisations

African Development Bank (AfDB) has announced to provide US$210mn loan to Nigeria to co-finance Phase 1 of the Nigeria special agro-industrial processing zone programme

The World Bank has approved a US$200mn credit from the International Development Association (IDA) to support Cameroon’s agricultural production in the Valley of Logone, located in the Far North region and part of the Lake Chad basin

Dake Rechsand, a Dubai-based company offering sustainable solutions in water conservation and desert farming, highlighted the unique capabilities of its award-winning breathable sand technology, at the virtual Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture (GFIA) event, held from 21-25 November, as part of the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Security Week

As part of the virtual event, Chandra Dake, CEO and founder of Dake Rechsand showcased a presentation on ‘Impactful desert landscape using Rechsand range’ where he talked about transforming deserts into arable land in the UAE, with the help of his company’s breathable sand. 

Dake Reschand claims that a one-time application of this technology results in up to 80% in water savings, compared to other conventional methods. The company’s breathable sand has unique water retention properties, combined with air permeability, which can massively empower sustainability in residential and commercial projects, especially in the desert and dry settings. 

The breathable sand, or ‘magic sand’ as the CEO likes to call it, can also be used to collect rainwater that falls on any surface to create a decentralised rainwater harvesting network, which can result in an untapped new source of potable water. Dake Rechsand has leveraged this technology to create its patented ‘Honey Comb’ water harvesting system, which allows water to be stored for up to seven years – keeping it fresh and free of algae, with zero chemical use and zero energy input. 

Dake Rechsand has demonstrated the potential of its technology, with the results it achieved at Al Ajban farms, Abu Dhabi. The high dependence that the farms had on desalination plants, for irrigation, led to it having a high carbon footprint. Addressing this unsustainable dependence led to experimenting with the application of ‘magic sand’ and the resulting project allowed Al Ajban farms to grow abundant and high-quality pulses, beans, tomatoes, chillies, mangoes and lemons. This was achieved by using little to no fertilisers, and reduced water usage by 70-80% on average. 

The breathable sand technology has previously turned more than 2,000 sq km of the world’s most arid and hot deserts in China, into lush green cover. The Ministry of Education, UAE has approved the application of breathable sand in multiple schools and the Ras Al Khaimah Municipality has agreed to plant 1,000 trees using the technology, in the first phase of a project it is undertaking.