It’s Time To Make Agriculture Sexy

Submitted by Ready-Done

Aquaponics is the new way to farm, still in its infancy on the international scene, in Barbados there is at least one individual who recognizes its potential to feed Barbadians and at the same time could be the ideal model for food security. In the last 5 years the concept has been studied and adapted to the Barbadian climate with much success by the writer.

What is aquaponics? Simply put it is raising two food crops in unity, fish and plants. The concept behind aquaponics is not new and can be found abundantly in nature. The documented ‘nitrogen cycle’ is manipulated to the advantage of the farmer.

By design aquaponics is natural, its three integrated life forms of fish, plants, and bacteria depend on each others optimal performance for continuity. The fish produce waste which the bacterium converts to a fertilizer for plants. What links the three is water. The water is cycled between the three and provided the oxygen level in the water is sufficient the three thrive to the benefit of the farmer.

The natural processes involved makes aquaponics easy to operate, nature tends to be in a constant state of equilibrium or reaching equilibrium and the mini ecosystem created is no different. The inputs (fish feed) is the defining factor in the amount of food finally produced for human consumption.

The plants because they have access to fertilizer and water ‘on demand’ the growth is remarkably fast and constant regardless of season, also because the fertilizer is located directly in the water plant densities can be very high. The limiting factor for growth becomes the plants root’s access to the water path which is the entire grow bed. In other words you can plant anything in the grow bed once it can fit. This high planting density means you can grow a lot of food in a small space. In fact a family of 4 could be fed with 4×4  8 plant beds.

Other benefits include the fact that the grow beds are raised from off the ground to about table level making it difficult for many pest to invade, while giving easy access to the plants, and because no soil is used there are no weeds to pull or soil diseases to control.

Bacteria are found everywhere, in the air, water, and on every surface in nature. The bacteria that converts the fish waste to fertilizer naturally find their way into the system. They are found on the surface area submerged in water. You may have noticed if you have ever been to a spring or stream that a slimy coating covers everything, that sliming coating is called the bio-film and houses the bacteria as they convert waste to food.

Fresh water fish brings to mind an unsavoury taste to the average Barbadian; this is because we have no large rivers to catch fish from, in my opinion freshwater fish taste great. We also know what these fish are eating because we are feeding them. Fish farming is the fastest growing farming method in the world and Barbados has an excellent climate for growing the desired tilapia.

Aquaponics has the ability to transform Barbados in many ways, the most promising is that by selling extra produce to neighbours we can revert to the view of the community as a resource; this would ultimately lead to a closer knit society. The only drawback found so far is the reliance of electricity to keep the water moving.