Salicornia Sato's Scheme Now 80, Sato first came to Eritrea in the 1980s, when war and hunger were devastating its people. Wondering how agriculture could be stimulated on the barren coastline, Sato noted that mangroves would grow in thin bands along some sections of the shore. He and his team established that the mangroves were growing in areas where rain water was washing into the sea. The rain was providing nitrogen, phosphorous and iron -- elements lacking in sea water. By burying the seeds with a piece of iron and a punctured bag of fertiliser rich in nitrogen and phosphorous, the mangroves flourished. Desertification was reversed, and the life of the community was transformed. "With simple experiments we are able to produce food and money for poor people where it did not seem possible. We can convert barren mud flats into mangrove forests and use these to provide the bulk of food for livestock," Sato said. "In a few short years, poverty should be eradicated in this village," he told a newspaper. The project was named Manzanar after the California desert internment camp where Sato and his family spent World War Two with thousands of other Japanese Americans. Then a young teenager, Sato created his own garden in the dusty earth. Rainforests of the SeaThe Eritrean project has attracted attention abroad, picking up several development awards. Its proponents believe it can be a model for other poor nations with similar coastal geography -- such as Mauritania, Somalia, Peru or Haiti. | Eritrea's mangroves show way to fight hunger << continues |