Shrimp in the Mekong

If you’re not familiar with CTAHR’s Environment and Bioenergy Research Group, just ask the faculty and students of Can Tho University in Vietnam.

Led by Samir Khanal of the Dept. of Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering, the group will soon travel to the Mekong Delta in a new international effort “pairing some of the United States’ top research institutions and scientists with their counterparts from countries where agriculture is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change,” notes the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service.

The group, which includes researcher Surendra KC and grad student Kyle Marcelino, makes UHM one of only six U.S. research institutions to be selected for FAS’ highly competitive Scientific Cooperation Research Program grant.

To fulfill the SCRP’s primary focus on climate-smart agriculture in tropical countries in order to help agriculture adapt to and mitigate its impact on changing climates, the group will work in close collaboration with Hua Thai Nhan, an Associate Professor at Can Tho (and MBBE alum). Together, they will develop a state-of-the-art shrimp aquaponic system in the Mekong Delta that utilizes nanobubble technology and the Internet of Things.

The team also hopes to train local farmers and stakeholders in applying these technologies via the establishment of a “Climate-smart Aquaculture-Aquaponics Research and Outreach Center” at Can Tho. It will serve the Southeast Asian region, as part of climate-smart agriculture in aquaculture and aquaponics.

“We hope the successful execution of this research and capacity development project will greatly increase the productivity of aquaculture and aquaponics in the Mekong Delta,” Samir says, “while adapting to and mitigating their impact on climate change.”

Read more about the Environment and Bioenergy Research Group.

Read more about the Scientific Cooperation Research Program.