Bailing hay in the Liwa Oasis area of southern UAE
Farmers bring their loose grass to a central location where it is bailed and prepared for shipping and sale. I observed two areas where this occurred. The other was along the Al Ain truck road.
Most of the UAE's cultivated land is taken up by date palms, which in the early 1990s numbered about 4 million. They are cultivated in the arc of small oases that constitute the Al Liwa Oasis. Both federal and emirate governments provide incentives to farmers. For example, the government offers a 50 percent subsidy on fertilizers, seeds, and pesticides. It also provides loans for machinery and technical assistance. The emirates have forty-one agricultural extension units as well as several experimental farms and agricultural research stations. The number of farmers rose from about 4,000 in the early 1970s to 18,265 in 1988.
TTP36: Typic Torripsamments consociation, undulating rises and valleys (The Extensive Soil Survey of Abu Dhabi Emirate was completed at the fourth order level at a scale of 1:100,000 using the latest norms and standards of the United States Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS) modified to fit Abu Dhabi Emirate conditions.)
This map unit consists of undulating rises and valleys that occur between larger dune ridges along the northern edge of the Liwa Crescent. The unit typically forms the lower slopes of the mega-barchans and has been graded to further reduce topographic gradient prior to development of an agricultural infrastructure. Small remnant plains and sabkha flats also occur but are too small to be mapped separately. Occasional polygons include steeper mid and upper slopes but the extent is relatively small. Polygons range in size from 62ha to 28,990ha. The land is extensively used for farming, date palms and forestry on some steeper slopes. Where natural vegetation is observed it is typically Zygophyllum spp and Cyperus conglomeratus. The map unit forms part of the CyperetumZygophylletum vegetation community.
The soils of this map unit are dominated by Typic Torripsamments, mixed, hyperthermic (80% AD158) in the oases graded dunes. Other soils are Typic Haplosalids, sandy, mixed, hyperthermic, aquic phase (5% AD147), Typic Haplogypsids, sandy, mixed, hyperthermic (5% AD117), Leptic Haplogypsids, sandy, mixed, hyperthermic (5% AD112) and Typic Haplocalcids, sandy, mixed, hyperthermic (5% AD103). Topographic gradient and the sandy nature of the soils are the main constraints to irrigated agriculture in this unit.
For more information about soil classification using the UAE Keys to Soil Taxonomy, visit:
agrifs.ir/sites/default/files/United%20Arab%20Emirates%20...
For more soil related images, visit:
Bailing hay in the Liwa Oasis area of southern UAE
Farmers bring their loose grass to a central location where it is bailed and prepared for shipping and sale. I observed two areas where this occurred. The other was along the Al Ain truck road.
Most of the UAE's cultivated land is taken up by date palms, which in the early 1990s numbered about 4 million. They are cultivated in the arc of small oases that constitute the Al Liwa Oasis. Both federal and emirate governments provide incentives to farmers. For example, the government offers a 50 percent subsidy on fertilizers, seeds, and pesticides. It also provides loans for machinery and technical assistance. The emirates have forty-one agricultural extension units as well as several experimental farms and agricultural research stations. The number of farmers rose from about 4,000 in the early 1970s to 18,265 in 1988.
TTP36: Typic Torripsamments consociation, undulating rises and valleys (The Extensive Soil Survey of Abu Dhabi Emirate was completed at the fourth order level at a scale of 1:100,000 using the latest norms and standards of the United States Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS) modified to fit Abu Dhabi Emirate conditions.)
This map unit consists of undulating rises and valleys that occur between larger dune ridges along the northern edge of the Liwa Crescent. The unit typically forms the lower slopes of the mega-barchans and has been graded to further reduce topographic gradient prior to development of an agricultural infrastructure. Small remnant plains and sabkha flats also occur but are too small to be mapped separately. Occasional polygons include steeper mid and upper slopes but the extent is relatively small. Polygons range in size from 62ha to 28,990ha. The land is extensively used for farming, date palms and forestry on some steeper slopes. Where natural vegetation is observed it is typically Zygophyllum spp and Cyperus conglomeratus. The map unit forms part of the CyperetumZygophylletum vegetation community.
The soils of this map unit are dominated by Typic Torripsamments, mixed, hyperthermic (80% AD158) in the oases graded dunes. Other soils are Typic Haplosalids, sandy, mixed, hyperthermic, aquic phase (5% AD147), Typic Haplogypsids, sandy, mixed, hyperthermic (5% AD117), Leptic Haplogypsids, sandy, mixed, hyperthermic (5% AD112) and Typic Haplocalcids, sandy, mixed, hyperthermic (5% AD103). Topographic gradient and the sandy nature of the soils are the main constraints to irrigated agriculture in this unit.
For more information about soil classification using the UAE Keys to Soil Taxonomy, visit:
agrifs.ir/sites/default/files/United%20Arab%20Emirates%20...
For more soil related images, visit: