Biosaline Agriculture as a Climate Change Adaptation for Food Security

Redouane Choukr-Allah Former Professor at Hassan II Institute of Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine, Morocco and currently Senior professor at University Mohamed VI Polytechnic, Benguerir. Dr. Redouane Choukr-Allah is a Horticultural, Soil and Water Environmental Specialist with more than 35 years of experience in coordinating and managing field-based projects and technical teams involved in the use of saline water and the use of treated wastewater in Horticulture. He holds a master’s degree in Agronomy from the Institute of Agronomy and Veterinary Hassan II Rabat, Morocco, and a PhD in Environment Horticulture from the University of Minnesota, St Paul USA. He served as head of the Horticulture Department from the period 1983 to 1996, and a Head of the Salinity and Plant Nutrition Laboratory since 1996. He also served as Senior Follow at International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) and as a Technical Coordinator of a 12 million US$ project, financed by USAID on the water resources sustainability in Morocco.  His recent research focuses on Sustainable Agriculture and Resilience to Climate Changes. He has extensive experience in the use of saline water and treated wastewater in agriculture, and soil and groundwater pollution prevention.  He has written numerous peer reviewed Journal papers, authoritative texts and books in the field of non-conventional water resources. Ragab Ragab President of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage, ICID, Fellow Principal Research Scientist & Water Resources Management Specialist at UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, UKCEH, Vice President of the International Commission on Irrigation & Drainage, ICID (www.icid.org), (2010-2013), Chairman of the UK National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (2007-2011), Chairman of the Permanent Committee on Strategies and Organization, ICID (2011-2014), Chairman of the Work Group on Water-Energy-Food Nexus, (2020-present), Founder of the Work Group on the Use of Non-Conventional Water Resources (formerly Poor Quality Water) for Food Production, ICID, (1997-present), Editor, Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge University Press (2013-present) and Adjunct Professor at Alexandria University, Egypt (2006-present). As a summary of his professional expertise, Dr Ragab Ragab worked for over 30 years as a principal Hydrologist and Agriculture Water Management specialist at UKCEH (formerly Institute of Hydrology then Centre for Ecology and Hydrology)). Expert in catchment hydrology, drought management, irrigation, drainage, soil hydrology, water use efficiency, use of Non-Conventional Water Resources for crop production, urban hydrology, the impact of land use and climate changes on water resources. Has experience in working for both Universities and Research Centers in and outside the UK. Leader of several projects in the UK and overseas. In addition to the UK, he has extensive field experience and has carried out numerous projects in North Africa, Europe, the Middle East, the Mediterranean region, Brazil and India. Developed two widely used models, SALTMED for field scale as a tool for integrated management of water (saline & fresh), soils, crops and N- fertilizers and IHMS (Integrated Hydrological Modelling System) for catchment/basin scale. Recipient of several International Awards. His scientific interests are mainly: Building cross-sectoral collaborations to understand the dynamic interactions across the water-energy-food nexus using new scientific knowledge to help stakeholders set objectives for water resources management & transforming science into management solutions.  Improving water productivity and water use efficiency, irrigation and drainage management, agricultural water management, soil physics/soil hydrology, remote sensing application in hydrology, hydrological modelling at the catchment scale, quantifying the impact of climate and land use changes on water resources, identifying the gap between water supply and demand and suggest management solutions to narrow the gap, and water, soil, and fertilizers management modelling and experimentation at field scale.

Chapter 1. Introduction to the book.- Chapter 2. Best practices for saline and brackish water management.- Chapter 2.1 Salt-affected soils and their management in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region: A holistic approach.- Chapter 2.2 Innovation and practical experience of using saline water at farm level in Tunisia.- Chapter 2.3 Soil and nutrient management under saline conditions.- Chapter 2.4 Irrigation management under saline conditions in MENA and Sub-Saharian conditions: Lessons learned.- Chapter 2.5 Irrigation Water Management under Salinity Conditions in Arid Regions.- Chapter 2.6 Seed priming and Nano priming techniques as tools to alleviate osmotic stress in legumes.- Chapter 3. Using saline water for conventional, nonconventional and forage crops.- Chapter 3.1 Exploration and collection of quinoa's wild ancestor in Argentina.- Chapter 3.2 Multilocality evaluation of alternative forage crops grown under salinity conditions in the south of Morocco.- Chapter 3.3 Innovation and Practical Experience of Using Saline Water at the Farm Level in Tunisia.- Chapter 4. Land management when irrigating with saline water.- Chapter 4.1 Do cultivating methods improve crop yield under saline condition in semi-arid areas?.- Chapter 4.2 Posphoypsum as potential amendment and fertilizer for crop nutrition and salt affected soils remediation.- Chapter 5. The challenges faced when using of non-Conventional water in agriculture.- Chapter 5.1 Status, Drivers and Suggested Management Scenarios of salt affected soils in Africa.- Chapter 5.2 The use of nonconventional water resources in agriculture in the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries: Key challenges and opportunities for the use of treated wastewater.- Chapter 6. Use of models as management tools.- Chapter 6.1 SALTMED model as a tool for water, crop, field and N-fertilizers management.- Chapter 7. Use of desalination technology to produce non-saline water for irrigation.- Chapter 7.1 Is desalination for agriculture sustainable?.- Chapter 7.2 The Technological Challenges of Desalination for Irrigation in Morocco.