ABU DHABI // For the past 14 years, Yousef Qassem Hassan has struggled to grow food on his farm.
"I can only grow vegetables like onions, cucumbers, tomatoes and bell peppers in winter," Mr Hassan said. "The rest of the year is dedicated to date palm trees."
His 11,550 square metre farm in Al Gharbia's Mirfa area is just 3 kilometres from the sea.
The air is humid, and the groundwater and soil are salty. That makes it hard for much to grow.
In such saline conditions, only two plants - desert saltgrass (Distichlis spicata) and salt couch grass (Sporobolus virginicus) - grow well. And they have to be imported from Oman, Saudi Arabia and Mexico.
So a number of companies, including Abu Dhabi's Farmers' Services Centre, a government body tasked with modernising farms, bring Mr Hassan water for his crops, almost 12,000 litres a day.
But it has not always been as fresh as he might have hoped.
"Some companies who bring me freshwater to irrigate my crops and trees mix it with salt water," Mr Hassan said. "And that affects my farm."
Unlike farmers elsewhere, Mr Hassan has few options for irrigation. With salty groundwater, sprinklers quickly become clogged with residue.
His complaints to the authorities have fallen on deaf ears and he is now resigned to doing what he can with his salty soil. That, he says, means feeble produce.
"The salt is a big problem for me because it's affecting my vegetables really badly," Mr Hassan said.
"The growth of the plants and vegetables weaken because of it and the soil also can't be used that many times."
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Volunteers offer workers a lifeline
Community volunteers have swung into action delivering food packages and toiletries to the men.
When provisions are distributed, the men line up in long queues for packets of rice, flour, sugar, salt, pulses, milk, biscuits, shaving kits, soap and telecom cards.
Volunteers from St Mary’s Catholic Church said some workers came to the church to pray for their families and ask for assistance.
Boxes packed with essential food items were distributed to workers in the Dubai Investments Park and Ras Al Khaimah camps last week. Workers at the Sonapur camp asked for Dh1,600 towards their gas bill.
“Especially in this year of tolerance we consider ourselves privileged to be able to lend a helping hand to our needy brothers in the Actco camp," Father Lennie Connully, parish priest of St Mary’s.
Workers spoke of their helplessness, seeing children’s marriages cancelled because of lack of money going home. Others told of their misery of being unable to return home when a parent died.
“More than daily food, they are worried about not sending money home for their family,” said Kusum Dutta, a volunteer who works with the Indian consulate.
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