The great-grandson of a British prime minister who is selling Ukrainian silt to desert states
Raymond Asquith’s company Zander has been in its start-up phase since it was founded in 2002. But that’s not so surprising when you consider the product: Ukrainian mud that helps to restore vegetation in desert countries. “There are lots of snake-oil merchants in this sector,” says Asquith OBE, a great-grandson of Britain’s prime minister of almost a century ago, “so we have been through exhaustive scientific testing to be sure we did actually have a business.”
It all began when Asquith obtained a sample of Ukrainian substrate – silt to you and me – that was known to locals as a poor-man’s fertiliser. But testing showed it is low in nitrogen and not particularly effective as fertiliser – its true ability was as a nutrient-delivery medium.
The product has been named Zander after the European pike-perch hybrid, which thrives in low-visibility water with a high sediment content. When subjected in a laboratory to temperatures as high as 54 degrees centigrade, plants sown with a single, initial watering were found to bloom 11 months later when grown in Zander, long after they had shrivelled up in conventional soil.
Asquith explains the desert is often very rich in nutrients, but unable to transmit them to plants. “Zander is very good at making water available to the plant – 95 per cent will go to the plant instead of going straight into the sand.” He adds that in some states in North Africa and the Gulf, large-scale planting schemes using peat or coconut matting (coir) may dwindle and die after a year or two, despite copious watering from precious aquifer supplies.
Zander is a potential solution to the problem.
Positioning themselves as a solution provider and consultant rather than a commodity exporter, Zander has picked up 17 contracts in Libya and Gulf states such as Kuwait, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, but it is too early for Asquith to say whether the company will float on a stock market.
There is also a Zander extract that can be diluted to cover larger areas, acting as a salinity buffer, and a third product that cleans soil contaminated with heavy metals. “We won’t make things grow where they can’t, but we can create the conditions to get the vegetation back.”
The business model is green at both ends, restoring wetlands and halting desertification in its tracks, using an organic product. The only unresolved issue is how big Zander can grow. “It’s more [aimed at] date trees and shrubbery than large-scale agriculture,” says Asquith. “We don’t envisage being plantation managers!”
Richard Lofthouse; portrait by Elmira Watts |
