by Ehsan Bayat | Dec 19, 2019 | Afghanistan, Agriculture, Conservation, Crops, Farm, Infrastructure, Middle East, Technology, Water, Weather
Agriculture has a long, rich history in Afghanistan. Prior to the Soviet invasion in the late 1970s, agriculture comprised about 50 percent of the nation’s GDP. Afghanistan was also the world’s largest exporter of dried fruits and nuts at that time. However, in the...
by Ehsan Bayat | Dec 5, 2019 | Agriculture, Conservation, Construction, Crops, Farm, Infrastructure, Technology, Water
Revolutionary ideas that could change agriculture in Asia and the Middle East are coming from the tiny nation of the Netherlands. In October, a Dutch consortium announced that it will build two glasshouses in India to demonstrate how agriculture can be profitable. The...
by Ehsan Bayat | Nov 7, 2019 | Afghanistan, Agriculture, Conservation, Crops, Farm, Infrastructure
Two decades ago, agricultural worker Hashim Aslami traveled through Afghanistan telling any farmer who would listen that the future lay in saffron. This expensive spice, he said, sometimes known as “red gold,” was hard to cultivate but paid off in the markets, where a...
by Ehsan Bayat | Oct 24, 2019 | Agriculture, Conservation, Crops, Farm, History, Infrastructure, Middle East, Technology, Water, Weather
The roots of modern agriculture can be traced to the Middle East. There, farmers grew fruits, vegetables, and grains in the rich soil and prime conditions of the Fertile Crescent. In recent decades, however, climate change, industrialization, population growth, and...
by Ehsan Bayat | Sep 11, 2019 | Agriculture, Conservation, Crops, Energy, Farm, Infrastructure, Middle East, Technology, Water
As Middle Eastern countries continue to search for ways to grow food in the region’s relentlessly dry and dusty conditions, a South Korean agritech startup is entering with a solution. The founders of n.thing recently announced that the innovator has made a business...
by Ehsan Bayat | Aug 28, 2019 | Afghanistan, Agriculture, Conservation, Farm, Infrastructure, Middle East, Technology, Transportation, Travel, Water
In its seventh year, the Afghanistan Rural Access Project (ARAP) is making a difference for Afghanistan’s far-flung communities. With a focus on building bridges and all-weather roads, the project has improved people’s access to resources as well as transportation for...
