TY - JOUR T1 - Agriculture in the North Western Sahara Aquifer System: A miracle in the making? JF - Journal of Soil and Water Conservation SP - 57A LP - 62A DO - 10.2489/jswc.2023.0106A VL - 78 IS - 3 AU - Rattan Lal Y1 - 2023/05/01 UR - http://www.jswconline.org/content/78/3/57A.abstract N2 - The Sahara Desert, a vast, seemingly empty land mass covered with sand or sand dunes with sparse, if any, scrub vegetation, covers an area of 9.4 × 106 km2 (3.63 × 106 mi2) (Abotalib et al. 2016). Sahara is a feminine name based on an Arabic word sahrā or “desert.” It extends from Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea Hills in the east, and from Mediterranean Sea in the north to the Sahel Zone in the south. Because of the arid climate, average annual precipitation of less than 5 mm (0.2 in) (New et al. 2000), and harsh environments, agriculture traditionally has been confined to specific areas called oases (small patches of vegetation fed by a spring and surrounded by desert).Thus, the African continent, where the Sahara Desert is located, is characterized by the familiar bleak statistics, such as 300 million people without access to safe drinking water and only 5% of arable land being irrigated (Tornhill 2012). Furthermore, prevalence of undernourishment in Africa (the percentage of the total population prone to lack of access to safe and healthy food) has been on the rise and was 44.4% in 2014, 49.7% in 2016, 51.3% in 2018, 52.4% in 2019, and 56.0% in 2020. Of this, prevalence of severe undernourishment (percentage of total population) was 16.7% in 2014, 19.2% in 2016, 19.3% in 2018, 31.9% in 2019, 32.2% in 2020, and 34.4% in 2021 (FAO et al. 2022).The problem of food insecurity is presumably aggravated by the current and projected increase in population, especially that of sub-Saharan Africa. The populations of Europe and … ER -