UAE firm plans to desalinise Pakistan's farmland

UAE-based Magnetic Technologies is working with the Pakistani government to reduce the salinity of six million hectares of farmland, currently unsuitable for farming.

"Food security is a growing concern worldwide and we are at a point right now where increasing areas used for farming is essential to sustain future food supplies," managing director, Junaid Khoory said.

The company plans to sell magnetic irrigation systems which boost the ability of water to absorb salts, allowing it to "flush" the land, he said.

Pakistan is looking for ways to increase its agriculture yields. Last year, the Asian country offered to lease or sell one million hectares to foreign investors as it looked to encourage technology transfer. For foreign investors, the deals were a chance to improve food supply security.

"Farmland is becoming a scarce resource and we get approached by a lot of countries looking to increase their yields and by using magnetic technologies we increase yields by around 30%," said Khoory.

The company aims to expand into Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Ethiopia, which also have high salinity levels in land, he said.