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Planting New Seeds for the Take-Off
By Cam McGrath
CAIRO, Feb 15, 2010 (IPS) – A salty, crunchy salad herb known to gourmands as samphire could revolutionise agriculture in the Middle East by providing food, fodder and fuel without using a single drop of freshwater.
Salicornia, a succulent plant that can grow in either fresh or salt water, has traditionally been seen as a source of food. However, with rising energy prices and increasing concern over global warming, the halophyte (salt- tolerant plant) is now prized for its other properties.
According to researchers at the University of Arizona, salicornia seeds are about 30 percent oil by weight, nearly double the oil content of soybean. The seeds can be harvested and pressed to make vegetable oil, or processed to yield agrofuel that may soon fuel airplanes.
The remaining 70 percent of salicornia’s oilseed biomass can be used as protein feed for livestock, while the plant’s stalks can be used as fodder or building material.
“Salicornia could add a new dimension to agriculture,” says Hassan El-Shaer, president of the International Society for Halophyte Utilisation (ISHU). “The plant thrives in saltwater, so it can be cultivated intensively and irrigated in areas where the water and land are too saline for traditional agriculture.”
The consequences for the Middle East are staggering, he says. Introducing salt-tolerant crops such as salicornia could utilise millions of hectares of unproductive arid land while conserving valuable freshwater resources and providing both material and economic returns to local inhabitants. But before this can happen, the plant must first prove its commercial viability.
Early attempts at commercial cultivation were not successful. The Arabian Saline Water Technology Company (Behar) established a 300-hectare project on Saudi Arabia’s northern coast in 1993 that irrigated salicornia with seawater to produce vegetable oil and fodder. The company also ran an experimental farm that integrated aquaculture with salicornia cultivation to produce shrimp, fish, oilseeds and animal feed.
The farms operated for several years but closed down due to limited demand for agro-mass at the time, says Behar chairman Adil Bushnak.
However, demand has surged in recent years as governments and industries seek low-carbon energy sources that do not compete with food crops for land or water resources. Commercial projects, including one already operational in northern Mexico, are growing salicornia as agrofuel feedstock for the aviation sector.
In January the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology (MIST), Honeywell’s UOP, Boeing, and Etihad Airways announced plans to establish a salicornia plantation in the United Arab Emirates to produce agrofuel for airplanes. The project will engineer an ecosystem comprised of fish ponds, salicornia fields and mangrove swamps.
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