Transcript Greening of desert coastal areas through integrated farming: Seawater Farms Eritrea Presented by: Joshua Ramsey Seawater Farms Eritrea and University of Arizona.

Greening of desert coastal
areas through integrated
farming: Seawater Farms
Eritrea
Presented by: Joshua Ramsey
Seawater Farms Eritrea and
University of Arizona
Eritrea
 Location – Eritrea is a small country located
on the coast of the Red Sea
 Population – approximately 3.5 million
 High level of poverty
 Low in natural resources and cropland
Seawater Farms Eritrea
 Integrated Seawater aquaculture/agriculture farm
 Main aquaculture products: Shrimp, Tilapia, and
possibly Artemia, Gracilaria, and Grouper
 Main agriculture products: Salicornia and
Mangroves
 Other products: Honey and Salt
 Beautification -- Greening the desert coast
 Alleviating poverty
 Increasing available cropland
 Sequestering CO2 from the atmosphere
 No effluent released directly into the Red Sea
Shrimp production
 Vertically integrated
– Hatchery, nursery, growout, and soon
processing as well
 Intensive
– circular cement lined ponds
– High density – 2-4 Kg/m3
Tilapia (my job)
 Unique population of tilapia
 Research is being done on reproduction in high
salinity (42-47 ppt)
 Polyculture in cages in intensive shrimp ponds
 Cage growout in shrimp effluent
 Free water source
 However, lots of work to be done
– More information on all aspects of reproduction
– Improving genetics
– Defining culture system and market objectives
Salicornia
 Halophyte (salt loving or salt tolerating)
 Products from plant
– Salicornia tips can be eaten as vegetable before seed
formation begins
– Popular, seasonal delicacy in Northern Europe
– Leftover plant can be bailed for fodder
– Woody stem can be pressed into particle boards or fire
logs
 Products from seed
– High quality edible oil, health care products, seed meal
can be used as fodder
Mangroves
 SFE will serve as mangrove nursery to
supply NPO Seawater Forest Initiative
Feed Mill
 Feed is produced using local ingredients
 Protein from local by-catch
 Macroalgae collected locally for binder
 Brewer’s yeast
Artemia and Salt Production
 Research on Artemia cyst production in
solar salt works
Integration
 By integrating so many various products
 Returning nutrients from the sea to the land
– Nutrient run-off from agriculture and other uses
transport nutrients away from cropland and
eventually into the ocean
– By using seawater for land based aquaculture
and agriculture