Publisher's Synopsis
Saline land is a resource capable of significant production. Recent advances in research in breeding for salt tolerance in wheat, biotechnology in rice, and selection and rehabilitation of salt-tolerant plants are of economic importance in arid/saline conditions. Working with salinity demands more technical know how from the farmer, however this can be trained and learned. More complicated is the social organisation that is necessary for salinity management in saline environments, comparable in some ways to Dutch polder-systems. Salinity management often also means costs: investments in infrastructure and maintenance energy costs for drainage and irrigation. Solutions can be found in advanced technologies and cooperative social structures.
