South Korean technology and funding has led to the establishment of a sea shrimp farm in the middle of the Sahara Desert in northern Algeria, revealed the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries on 28 January.
The farm, known as the Shrimp Cultivation Research Center, consists of both indoor and outdoor units alongside several office buildings and research structures, reported the Yonhap News Agency. Altogether, it measure to approximately 10 hectares, or 12 soccer fields, in size.
The farm came about as part of a project spearheaded by the Official Development Assistance (ODA) of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). Construction finished on the site in August 2015, close to four years after ground was broken.
Shrimp rearing courtesy of South Korean and Algerian experts started in October 2015 on the site, with 500 kilograms of grown shrimp emerging out of those initial efforts. The shrimp is being raised with the help of state-of-the-art bioflock technology provided by the National Fisheries Research & Development Institute (NFRD).
Underground salty water from the oases of the Sahara is used in the farms, reported Yonhap: “Algeria's portion of the Sahara Desert has an extensive underground water source beneath its sand layers, with a salt concentration of 4~5 percent, suitable for the shrimp farm.”
On 26 January, a dedication ceremony was held at the site, with 200 Korean and Algerian officials attending. Ra In-cheol, head of a research center under the NFRD, remarked that the success of the shrimping operation comes as an excellent opportunity to show the world the latest advances in Korea’s farming technology, according to Yonhap.
