The Maldives is about an hour's flight south-west of Colombo, Sri Lanka. This beautiful country consists of more than 1,000 islands, each only about the size of a 9 hole golf course (approximately 50 ha.). More than 300,000 tourists visit this tropical paradise annually. Most of the food (an estimated US$30 million annually) has to be imported to provide for both tourists and the locals.
The main constraints regarding food production in the Maldives are:
- the shortage of suitable land for agriculture.
- the soils that are allocated for crop production are very poor, being very sandy with poor moisture and nutrient retention.
- fresh water is limited and rainwater is the only source for agricultural application.
- well water is available for field applications, however, it is very high in salt (EC of 1 to 1.4) making it unsuitable for hydroponic use.
- rainfall is seasonal and often there is no rain for several months at a stretch. The annual rainfall averages about 100cm.
Given the above mentioned challenges, the Seagull Group selected the use of our systems for their hydroponic vegetable production of a mixed crop of cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuces, herbs and Chinese broccoli. The key reasons behind this decision is our water efficiency (due to the scarcity fresh water), zero run-off (less environmental impact on the sensitive corals) and simplicity.
