Currently, 35 percent of fish stocks in our natural resources are over harvested, oceans contain more plastics than fish and cannot naturally provide for the 62 percent human consumption seafood demand anticipated by 2030 (Global Seafood Alliance, 2019). Aquaculture with innovations such as Aquaponics offer promising results for the future of fish farming and global consumption as they offer the best solution to food security, land conservation, and the restoration of our ecosystems.
Aquaponics is the cultivating of plants and fish together in a natural ecosystem using fish waste as plant nutrients. Aquaponic systems work in a closed loop, using natural bacterial cycles to convert the fish waste in form of ammonia to plant nutrients in form of nitrates. Small scale Aquaponics systems are the most common and offer a viable solution to rural communities in Zambia with little or no water, limited land, and unpredictable climate.
The main objective of the mobile aquaponics project is to provide a resilient response to climate change through this innovative farming technique: Aquaponics. These mobile aquaponic systems can be built at any scale anywhere in the word, using natural resources such as bamboo, using renewable energy such as solar energy and recycled materials that are already available in the communities. This project further seeks to improve food security, reduce poverty, and the unsustainable farming methods that are currently existent in Zambia. Through a demonstrative urban farm at the CAMFED climate smart center, the project will offer trainings in technical, management, leadership, business, and people skills to over 2,000 smallholder farmers especially women in the next 5 years, to create 20 new employment opportunities for women and youths to generate an extra income from the sale of both fish and vegetables for families with mobile aquaponic systems. The goal is to build healthy and resilient ecosystems and to encourage a collaborative and community driven approach to tackle issues of food insecurities caused by climate change and enable more fair and sustainable food supply chains.
Reference
Global Seafood Alliance. 2019. What Is Aquaculture and Why Do We Need It? [en línea]. [Consultado el 11 de octubre 2021]. Disponible en el World Wide Web:<https://www.globalseafood.org/blog/what-is-aquaculture-why-do-we-need-it/>