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 completecomponent science on glauconite and biochar in arid soils.
Supplier shortlist identifiedSoyl, 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 identifiedEmirates 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.