With heatwaves destroying crops in Libya and Jordan, farmers and refugees are finding hope in a popular new farming technique. In Ubari, an oasis town a thousand kilometers south of Tripoli in Libya, the summer heat can be lethal. Temperatures now frequently top 50 degrees Celsius - so hot that schools and offices are shut for public safety.
For 35-year-old Ubari farmer Khalifa Muhammad, the extreme heat is a matter of life and death for something else: his fruits and vegetables. "Over the past five years, high temperatures have badly affected our harvest," says Muhammad.
Libya is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change. The North African nation has been hit by longer periods of drought, increased sandstorms, higher evaporation rates, and worsening desertification. Together, these extremes are causing unprecedented crop failure, undermining Libya's food security.
To grow food in such harsh conditions, Libyan farmers like Muhammad are turning to hydroponic farming: a method that cultivates crops directly in water, rather than soil, and from inside temperature-controlled tents. "It's helped us produce healthy vegetables. They grow faster, have purer colors, and taste better than the ones grown by traditional methods. Hydroponics has been a godsend after years of failed crops," Muhammad says while inspecting some 900 seedlings he has grown in his plastic hydroponic tent.
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