The Faculty of Agriculture in QOU, represented by the Agriculture Research Center inaugurated hydroponics project for the production of leaf vegetables, in partnership with the Jerusalem District Electricity Co. Ltd and the Palestinian Incubator for Energy.
The Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, Dr. Ma’en Sheqwara mentioned that the staff of the agraicultural research headed by Dr. Aziz Salameh monitored the design, implementation and technical supervision and said “The objectives of this project are to utilize unused areas under solar panels for the production of vegetables and for research purposes and training students of the Faculty of Agriculture. One of the benefits of this system is to double the productivity of the area, in addition to the high quality of the product. He added, “We are looking forward to spread this experience on large investment areas, in partnership with the aforementioned stakeholders.”
Dr. Aziz Salameh, Director of the Agricultural Research Center at Al-Quds Open University, said, “The objective of this project is the optimal utilization of available resources, represented by the vast areas owned by the Jerusalem District Electricity Company in Jericho and the Jordan Valley, which are used only for the production of electrical energy and which exceeds a hundred dunams. He added: “Through this project, a primary hydroponic unit was established and planted with more than (1500) seedlings of varieties of leaf vegetables, with the aim of evaluating them and choosing the best ones in line with this system in order to apply them on a large scale in Palestine.”.”
Dr. Salameh added that the area of the primary hydroponic unit is 100 square meters, and its production is equivalent to an area of half a dunum of land. It’s noteworthy that this system provides about (80%) of the water needed to irrigate an area of half a dunum in regular soil.
