ABU DHABI // A year after it was set up, the world's largest aquaponics centre has started to sell salad crops to supermarkets across the UAE and will market its fish in one year's time.
Set up with a grant from the Khalifa Fund, the Dh4 million project combines traditional fish farming with a system that uses their waste as fertiliser for hydroponic vegetable tanks.
The Baniyas centre, located in the Zayed Higher Agricultural Centre for Development and Rehabilitation in Abu Dhabi, has so far produced 10 tonnes of fish.
The centre has two 2,400-square metre greenhouses - one for fish, one for vegetables.
Between them is a series of tanks and filters that turn the ammonia-rich waste from the fish into food for the plants.
The project started last year with 10,000 tilapia fingerlings - juvenile fish - from Holland.
"The 10 tonnes of fish we produced in the past year will be reused in the system for the coming year before we can start selling it to the Abu Dhabi fish market," said Mohamed Al Areefi, the director of the centre.
"We plan on providing the market with fish twice a week, or 600 kilograms a month."
A similar set-up has been running for 11 years in the Virgin Islands.
The fish excreta is high in ammonia, which is toxic. But the filters and cleaning tanks contain nitrosomonas bacteria that convert the ammonia into nitrites, and nitrobacter bacteria that process the nitrite into nitrate. This can then be used as fertiliser.
And due to its automatic recirculating system, aquaponics does not need much monitoring or measuring. It also uses organic chemicals in its tanks to give the plants more taste.
The centre started trials at the end of May, growing tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers and bell peppers using seeds from Holland, the US and Germany.
"We are planting the seeds now," said Mr Al Areefi. "In 21 days, we will get 60,000 heads of lettuce and the other produce will take around two months to grow."
Each crop is forecast to generate 10 tonnes of food in the next year.
Once fully grown, the produce will be sold to supermarkets across the UAE.
Of the trial crops already grown, the centre has sold up to 300kg of lettuce twice a week to supermarkets including Carrefour, Union Coop and the organic company Ripe in Dubai.
"In total, we sold a tonne of lettuce at Dh12 a piece from our trials," said Mr Al Areefi.
When fully operating, the centre should be able to produce up to 40 tonnes of produce and 12 tonnes of fish.
"We should be able to produce at least 52 tonnes of food by next year," said Mr Al Areefi.
The system, set up by JBA Agritech, uses water more efficiently than a conventional system. Its tanks contain 400,000 litres of water, which can be used for a year or two before it needs to be replaced.
Even the energy is expected to go green in the future, as the centre has plans to use sun and wind power to operate the system's pumps.
Mr Al Areefi is hoping for government support as many farmers have expressed interest in the technology.
"I hope this year, once it is complete, that the Government will subsidise it so people can replicate it," he said.
"It's a step towards helping the UAE's future food supplies."
cmalek@thenational.ae
Intercontinental Cup
Namibia v UAE Saturday Sep 16-Tuesday Sep 19
Table 1 Ireland, 89 points; 2 Afghanistan, 81; 3 Netherlands, 52; 4 Papua New Guinea, 40; 5 Hong Kong, 39; 6 Scotland, 37; 7 UAE, 27; 8 Namibia, 27
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
BUNDESLIGA FIXTURES
Friday (UAE kick-off times)
Cologne v Hoffenheim (11.30pm)
Saturday
Hertha Berlin v RB Leipzig (6.30pm)
Schalke v Fortuna Dusseldof (6.30pm)
Mainz v Union Berlin (6.30pm)
Paderborn v Augsburg (6.30pm)
Bayern Munich v Borussia Dortmund (9.30pm)
Sunday
Borussia Monchengladbach v Werder Bremen (4.30pm)
Wolfsburg v Bayer Leverkusen (6.30pm)
SC Freiburg v Eintracht Frankfurt (9on)
The biog
Favourite hobby: taking his rescue dog, Sally, for long walks.
Favourite book: anything by Stephen King, although he said the films rarely match the quality of the books
Favourite film: The Shawshank Redemption stands out as his favourite movie, a classic King novella
Favourite music: “I have a wide and varied music taste, so it would be unfair to pick a single song from blues to rock as a favourite"
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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