Entrepreneurship of a Lorestan Woman Through Harvesting Green Gold

Zahra Saki, a 21-year-old woman from Lorestan, has extracted nutrients from algae and produced Iran’s first aquaculture feed product based on this “green gold.”

Fars News Agency – Lorestan

At first glance, many of us may consider algae to be a useless material. However, harvesting this green gold, even at a time when many people did not believe in its remarkable properties, has become a path toward entrepreneurship for a young woman from Lorestan. In addition to boosting production, her work has created employment opportunities for many other young people.

Because of her father’s profession, she grew up around aquaculture farms from an early age and, as she puts it, knows the habits and characteristics of fish like the palm of her hand. As she grew older, she decided to continue the family profession in a more scientific way, with her family also providing support and encouragement.

Zahra Saki, a 21-year-old woman from Lorestan, first saw algae farms during a university field trip to Khuzestan. That experience sparked the idea of harvesting this green gold in her mind. She began extracting the nutrients from algae in the laboratory and produced Iran’s first algae-based aquaculture feed product.

She says: “I thank God that on my path toward entrepreneurship, I have been able to take a small step for the young people of my province and create employment opportunities for 40 people directly and more than 200 people indirectly.”

Harvesting Green Gold

“My father’s profession is the production of aquaculture feed, and our family’s constant concern has always been improving feed formulations to achieve better efficiency. Therefore, I decided to study aquaculture-related subjects at university and use scientific knowledge to address this family concern.

Two years ago, at the age of 21, during one of my university visits to fish farming facilities, I saw algae farms. It was there that I thought algae, this green gold, could be used in aquaculture feed.

I returned and began cultivating algae at the laboratory level. At that time, many people believed that algae would not work and that they were useless, but I was determined to extract this gold and demonstrate its remarkable effects to everyone.

Until then, algae had not been used in the production of aquaculture feed. My idea was registered at the Science and Technology Park for the first time, and by using this nutritious material, I was able to achieve a high level of satisfaction among aquaculture producers with the feed.”

On the Path to Entrepreneurship and Achieving the Ideal Feed

“At first glance, using algae may not seem economically viable because of its high price. However, depending on the extraction method, it is possible not only to reduce costs but also to achieve many advantages.

Naturally, adding algae to aquaculture feed is considered an additive, and adding any type of additive ultimately increases the final price for the producer.

As I mentioned, aquaculture is my family profession, and economic issues such as obtaining high-quality and cost-effective feed have always been among the priorities of aquaculture producers. Therefore, I tried to address this problem to a large extent through the extraction method and by adding omega to the algae.

As a first step, I tried to make the feed attractive to fish so that, in addition to promoting weight gain, it could deliver nutrients to the body of the aquatic animal. Therefore, I began producing the first prototype of algae-based aquaculture feed.

Using the nutrients extracted from algae, in addition to reducing the feed conversion ratio, improves fish health, keeps the farm water clean, provides a higher-quality carcass at harvest, and ultimately increases productivity and production.

Now, with the mass production of this feed, in addition to addressing aquaculture producers’ concern about reducing the feed conversion ratio, we have also controlled fish mortality at a young age by providing nutrients in the feed from the very beginning.

At present, with the establishment of our aquaculture feed factory, we are the largest feed producer in western Iran. Every year, 8,000 tons of products are manufactured at the factory, all based on algae extraction, and distributed nationally and internationally.”

Export and Foreign Currency Earnings with Green Gold

“Currently, I have another idea under implementation that has received positive feedback internationally, and I am seeking to produce it on a large scale at the national level.

In recent years, there has been strong emphasis on transforming production into knowledge-based activities. Therefore, this time, through an innovative and technical technology aimed at increasing feed attractiveness and optimizing feed performance, I am seeking to reduce production costs and increase efficiency.

In this idea, by creating a nutritional coating, the feed becomes more attractive to aquatic animals. For example, adding a coating to the surface of a snack can make the food more appealing to the general public and encourage a person to eat it. We have applied a similar concept to fish in our latest idea and have started production on a small scale.

This process, which is being carried out in Iran for the first time, has received positive international feedback. Through exporting feed based on algae extraction, we have not only reduced costs and increased production efficiency for producers, but have also generated foreign currency earnings for the country through feed exports.

Despite the extensive emphasis on supporting entrepreneurs, knowledge-based companies do not provide sufficient support for creative ideas, and bureaucratic procedures and administrative complexities sometimes create obstacles in the path of production.

Although I have approached banks, I have not yet received any supportive financing. As a result, the factory, which has a production capacity of 20,000 tons, currently produces only 8,000 tons of feed.”