The Maldives Journal, day 7: fish and farming

Maria Suja, Saturday 18th November

Our Saturday started with a lecture at Amra Palace of Ali Amir, the director of ministry of Agriculture and Fishing, who exposed the problems that the agriculture in Maldives has to face. First, there is limited suitable land available and the soil is very poor in nutrients because of its coral origins. The soil is also very porous and therefore needs to be irrigated many times during the day (3-4 times/day). Secondly, the salty seawater of the floods destroys the crops and the groundwater resources.

After the lecture we went to visit a model farm, which focused on the empowerment of women and the use of natural elements as resource. For example, neem oil is used as a natural pesticide, coconut husk as fertilizer and lime grass in the surroundings of the greenhouse to deter unwanted insects. One of the main problems is the lack of water reserve to supply plants during the dry season.

This was a good example of solutions for agriculture in Maldivian extreme environment. During the afternoon we went to Horizon Fisheries in Fonadhoo, where they showed us the process of cooking and cleaning the tuna before export. In their presentation, they explained to us how they used a sustainable way to fish, using pole fishing in order to not exhaust the resources. At the end of the afternoon, we went to the wetlands on Gan, which have a red glow because of the fallen trees that lead to many fairy tales. For example, the Maldivians call it the “ghost lake”.

In the evening, during our dinner in Amra Palace, the group K Bola did a performance of traditional dance, which everybody enjoyed.