Visit to the Arava Valley (08 April, 2008)

A short visit to the Arava valley with lab members…. In brief, we covered, the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies (AEIS) in Kibuttz Qetura and the Colors’ Fish Farm in Moshav Hazeva

Arava Valley

A part of the Great Rift Valley (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Rift_Valley) stretching up to 166 km between Israel and Jordan. The farming methods used in the Arava are among the most advanced in the world. Arava region produces (2007) about 60% of the total Israeli export of fresh vegetables and about 15% of the ornamentals export. The Arava valley is also beautiful with many ancient sites. Timna Valley Park (see older posts) and the famous Wadi Rum, where the movie Lawrence of Arabia was made are some of its major attractions .

Kibbutz Qetura and AEIS

The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies (AEIS) located at Kibbutz Qetura is the premier research centre that promotes regional cooperation between Israelis, Palestinians, and other neighboring Arab countries in environmental matters. Kibbutz Qetura created headlines when Dr. Elaine Soloway (AEIS faculty) germinated a 2,000-year-old date seed found at Masada (see older posts), making it the oldest seed ever to germinate. The kibbutz has a large cow shed for milk harvests, and a firm (Algatech) that processes a natural red-coloured pigment called astaxanthin from an algae called haematococcus.The extract is then sold around the world (9000$ per kg) as a natural high-quality ingredient for fish food; as a natural pigment for cosmetics, and as a nutraceutical. The institute also specializes in extensive date palm cultivation and conserves exotic medicinal plants introduced from different parts of world. Interestingly, they preserve Neem from India and Argania, a unique under exploited plant from Morocco. The Argania tree serves as a good fodder for goats and its seed oil is a popular cosmetic ingredient with good medicinal values. The production of a litre of this oil is very labour intensive; just to break open sufficient kernels with a stone takes about 12 hours!

Hazeva

In Moshav Hazeva we saw the Colors Fish Farm that specializes in rearing ornamental fish at large scale. For instance the breed Guppy was exported to many European countries at commercial scale. The farm is under Hazeva Research and Development Center, a part of the Ben-Gurion University.

See also

http://www.arava.org/new/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketura_(kibbutz)

http://www.arava.co.il/english/

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=826167

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabah