Turning desert sand into fertile soil.

A soil-improvement service for UAE agriculture and landscaping — mineral, organic, and biostimulant blends that restore water retention and nutrients in sandy soil.

Simplified soil profile — not to scale

The problem

Desert sand can't feed a country.

The UAE's food security depends on land that, on its own, works against growing anything.

~90%

of the UAE's food is imported, exposing the country to global supply-chain risk.

Low CEC

Desert sand barely retains water or nutrients, making irrigation costly and inefficient.

2051

The National Food Security Strategy calls for more local production — poor soil quality is a fundamental barrier.

Our solution

A soil-improvement service, not a bag of product.

We combine three components — tailored to each site — to restore water retention and nutrient content in desert sand. We integrate proven local components rather than inventing new chemistry: the innovation is in the combined formula and the service model.

Mineral

Glauconite

Improves cation-exchange capacity and water retention; a natural source of potassium, iron, and magnesium.

Organic

Biochar

Increases plant-available moisture in coarse, sandy soils and shifts the soil microbial community.

Biological

Biostimulants

Site-specific additions that support root development and nutrient uptake as the soil rebuilds.

How it works

Four steps, one service.

01

Diagnose

Soil and site assessment.

02

Formulate

Custom mineral / organic / biostimulant mix.

03

Apply

Via irrigation system or direct spreading.

04

Monitor

Ongoing moisture and yield tracking.

Where we are today

Pre-pilot — building in the open.

We're validating the approach before scaling, and we'd rather show honest progress than dress up numbers we don't have yet.

Desk research complete — component science on glauconite and biochar in arid soils.
Supplier shortlist identified — Soyl, Zeoplant, EBFF, Camelicious/Viqa.
Mini-pilot (100–1,000 m²) — scheduled Q3 2026, targeting +20–25% moisture retention based on published UAE trials.
First target prospect identified — Emirates Bio Farm (Al Ain) — outreach planned, not yet a client.

The two pending items above are targets and planned outreach, not completed results — we don't claim pilot data or a client we don't have yet.

Why now

A funded government priority, not a bet.

$3.45B
UAE agriculture market size (2026), growing ~4.4% CAGR
Source: Mordor Intelligence
38
initiatives across 5 pillars in the National Food Security Strategy 2051
Source: UAE Government
$100M
Abu Dhabi Investment Office matching fund for agtech start-ups
Source: ADIO
Team

Building from infrastructure into agronomy.

Alexandr Shaihiev

Founder & CEO

8+ years in IT infrastructure and information security. Sand to Soil grew out of a personal pull toward hands-on climate work — building something that visibly greens desert land, rather than securing systems that don't.

Open role: Agronomy co-founder / technical advisor — actively recruiting. If that's you, get in touch below.