Coordinator: Dr. Ramón Jaime Holguín Peña

MISSION:

The Program of Agriculture in Dry Land Areas focuses on demonstrating the value that agriculture represents in dry areas with extreme conditions, such as high solar irradiation, soil-brackish water resource, and recurrent drought periods to produce plants that are economically and environmentally useful in order to transfer these results to the region.

APPROACH:

The Program envisages developing sustainable management systems for irrigation and cultivation of key species in agricultural developments in Northwest Mexico, including horticultural, forage, fruit, halophytic, and desert plants with commercial potential in local, national, and international markets. It considers providing salt-tolerant plant resources that use brackish water, thereby contributing to the social and economic development of arid and semi-arid areas in Mexico that are affected by this condition.

OBJECTIVES:

• Develop agro-biotechnological strategies directed to clarify biochemical, molecular, and ultra-structural mechanisms that confer resistance to extreme conditions of salinity and drought in native vegetable species of the region.

• Acquire, evaluate, and distribute plants with agriculture potential in arid areas.

• Develop management and production systems that provide sustainable agricultural enterprises, including options related to low-flow irrigation systems and water exploitation with high salt content.

• Develop diagnosis, management, and disease and pest control strategies to guarantee the phytosanitary status of the State of Baja California Sur as pest and quarantine-disease free.

• Develop a firm structure for acquiring, storing, updating, and spreading information and knowledge about agriculture in extreme environments in dry land areas to share with other institutions of higher education and research at local, national, and international levels through web communication systems.

• Strengthen training of technical and professional staff in the areas where saline water is used for irrigation, and develop transfer technologies and extension programs.

SUMMARY:

Through procedures, technologies, and production systems, the Program of Agriculture in Dry Land Areas expects to optimize the agricultural surface, develop protection methods for agricultural practices and products, increase yields, and improve water and soil use for sustainable agricultural development. The program applies the scientific and technological capabilities of CIBNOR to develop and propose alternative solutions, given the problems that affect the agriculture and livestock sector.