MEDRC gathers top Omani desalination researchers

MEDRC Water Research brought its Omani Desalination Researchers Network together to focus on the issue of water management within agriculture, at their headquarters, in Al Hail, Muscat.

The Omani Desalination Research Network was first launched by MEDRC in 2016, and aims to gather water desalination experts and researchers and provide them with a platform to highlight new research findings, produce collaborations and coordinate the focus of Oman’s leading water experts on water challenges specific to Oman.

Globally and in Oman, agriculture is the largest user of water. Water use in agriculture is often highly inefficient with only a fraction of the water diverted for agriculture effectively used for plant growth, with the rest drained or lost via evapotranspiration. With population growth and rising affluence, the need for food and thus agricultural water for irrigation is increasing. Thus, producing more with less is the only option. The aim of the workshop is to present applicable solutions to specific problems relating to water management in agricultural practices.

The choice of this meeting’s topic, “Towards efficient use of water in agriculture” is justified by the need to provide solutions and good practices of water use in the Omani agriculture sector. Alumni from Omani universities such as Sultan Qaboos University, Caledonian College of Engineering and the International Maritime College of Sohar, were invited to present their research findings to the audience. Contributions were submitted in a poster format allowing the audience to quickly grasp the key points of the work and to consider the potential of the outputs to act as solutions to agricultural water challenges.

The workshop culminated with an award for the Best Research Poster Presentation which was won by Tahani Bait Suwailam, from Sultan Qaboos University for her poster entitled ‘Seawater greenhouse, towards freshwater irrigation production’. Second place was awarded to Afrah al Shukaili, SQU for her work ‘Tilted Porous Composite as Evaporating “Cap”: Do Desert Dunes Preserve Moisture by Capillary Barriers?’. Third place was awarded to Hawraa al Ajmi, from The International Maritime College Oman (IMCO) for her poster titled ‘ RO Desalination Using Renewable Energy’.

Making presentations from Omani institutions on the day were: Prof Mushtaque Ahmed (College of Agricultural & Marine Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University), Dr Htet Htet Kyaw (Nanotechnologies Research Centre, Sultan Qaboos University), Eng Zahir al Salmani (Directorate General of Agriculture & Livestock Research, Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries), Dr Majed Abusharkh (Public Authority for Electricity & Water), Eng Abdullah al Habsi (Occidental Mukhaizna LLC), Eng Noura al Balushi (Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering, Caledonian College of Engineering), Dr A M Saravanan, Dr Anna Jesil and Asma al Kharusi, (Caledonian College of Engineering), Eng Ahmed al Mayahi (SQU Alumni, Master of Science in Soil and Water management, Sultan Qaboos University), and Dr Muna al Hinai, (Nanotechnology Research Centre, Sultan Qaboos University).