Aquaponics: Creating Food Secure Communities Using Small Spaces
by Mwila Agatha Zaza
Earth Day is a day in which we reflect upon our planet's health and well-being. Agriculture is perhaps one of the most contentious issues surrounding how we care for our earth. There is a growing realization that current food production methods may be unsustainable, and feeding humankind requires “future-proof” innovative methods.
The glossy, high-tech future of agriculture
When we see the future of agriculture, perhaps we imagine lab-grown meat, massive seaweed farms, robots, and indoor farming. These farmers are marked by their size and run with an app to monitor and regulate everything including automating lighting and temperatures. It’s an attractive prospect; farming, in our imagined future, could become glossy and high-tech, with farmers becoming celebrities. In this future, farming remains industry dominated, requires substantial investment and highly-educated workforces — a venture that excludes many that make their living through farming today.
The question of how we feed the future billions is made even more pressing by climate change. The future of food is complicated by the seemingly intractable nature of global poverty — according to World Vision, in 2019, 689 million people were living in extreme poverty. When it comes to food production, low incomes and poverty are often marked by inequitable access to fertile land, poor methods of agricultural production, and a low-skilled workforce.
The world’s population is set to reach 9.7 billion by 2050. As we see cities grow, fewer children raised in proximity to agricultural production, and larger numbers of climate refugees, we will see a growing number of people without the means to attain food security.
Furthermore, this disconnection from food production is intensified for the poor because they lack the income needed to sustain themselves as consumers in the modern economy.
Food security is more than a supermarket
Food security is defined by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) as having “physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”.
Over the last few centuries, an increasingly globalized food chain has created a system in which climate change, conflict, and fluctuations in energy prices and supply, among other factors, can disrupt food value chains. For instance, many were unaware that Russia and Ukraine together supply more than a quarter of the world’s wheat until the February 2022 invasion.
Moreover, according to FAO in 2021, the world has seen very little improvement in food security in the last decade. FAO said “the world has not been generally progressing either towards ensuring access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food for all people all year round (SDG Target 2.1), or to eradicating all forms of malnutrition (SDG Target 2.2).”
It’s acknowledged that food security is more than being able to purchase food from a supermarket, it’s also about creating sustainable systems for production, especially in the context of climate change. Furthermore, with an increase in urbanization, these methods of food production must be able to function in smaller and smaller spaces.
Enter aquaponics — a relatively low-tech solution to boosting food security. Aquaponics enables food production by families, communities, and entrepreneurs in limited spaces.
Aquaponics: a sustainable and empowering method of food production
Aquaponics is a closed-loop system of growing crops using the by-products of fish farming in tanks. Aquaponics is not an entirely new concept; it’s been used to grow rice in Asia for centuries.
Aquaponics is a mix of aquaculture (fish farming) and hydroponics (growing vegetables in a soil-free culture). Aquaponic systems grow vegetables in trays, which are fed by a flowing cycle of water. As part of the cycle, the water passes through a tank of fish and carries away fish waste — a concentrated mix of nutrients and minerals — to be absorbed by the plants.
Aquaponics creates an ecosystem that mimics nature, it is largely self-regulating and does not require chemical additives or fertilizers. In addition, the systems are covered, therefore limiting exposure to sunlight, ensuring minimal evaporation and leading to a 90% reduction in water use.
Aquaponics holds ic potential, especially among urban and displaced communities, by being workable in small spaces. Aquaponics could mitigate food insecurity because it is cheaper to initiate, is less labor-intensive, and has little environmental impact.
The impact of aquaponics is visible in the projects Connect Global has built together with the communities in which they work, which helps to supplement food sources in Honduras.
Ending hunger and empowering communities with aquaponics
An aquaponics system can be constructed almost anywhere. The method is adaptable to every climate making it a sustainable and future-proof technology. These benefits are why Connect Global is tackling food scarcity in Honduras, Costa Rica, and other future sites. By investing in and cooperatively working on Aquaponic food production systems, Connect Global not only provides a viable solution to closing the gap of food scarcity in underserved communities, we also lend a helping hand in nourishing our planet with sustainable farming practices.
Mwila Agatha Zaza is an independent consultant with two decades of experience in international development. Her focus is on supporting NGOs across the world in fundraising communications, including in proposal development, strategic planning and optimising digital presence.
Connect Global is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) that is building Aquaponics Systems for people in need of healthy food sources.
