Desert Agriculture & Aquaculture

Arid lands, which include the diverse ecosystems of deserts, savannahs and tropical dry forests, are threatened by over-exploitation and desertification.

At BGU’s French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands, scientists are enhancing plant tolerance to stress, introducing new sustainable crops, and discovering innovative uses for inherently tolerant dryland plants. They are maximizing the commercial use of microalgae for pharmaceuticals; revolutionizing the fish industry with ecologically sound technologies and techniques for desert fish farms; perfecting desert vineyards; and developing solutions to minimize the adverse impact on the environment from livestock production.