The Future of Farming: How Aquaponics is paving the way for sustainable agriculture

With the growing population, the need for food and water has increased as well. Production can’t be natural always as it requires a lot of time, and money and is also uncertain. Artificial methods such as hydroponics, vertical farming, and aquaponics come into play. In this article, we will learn more about the method of aquaponics and see if it can really be the future of agriculture.

Aquaponics refers to the food production system that couples aquaculture (raising aquatic animals such as fish, crayfish, snails, or prawns in tanks) with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water) whereby the nutrient-rich aquaculture water is fed to hydroponically grown plants. It is a synergy between the plant and the aquatic ecosystem. In this farming, the fish are bred, reared, and harvested. During the rearing period, the water containing waste material (excreta) created by fish is used as a medium to grow plants.

First, the food is introduced for the fish, which works as the system’s input. As fish eat this food and process it, they transform it into urine and fecal matter, both rich in ammonia, which in sufficient quantities can be toxic to plants and fish. Afterward, the water (now ammonia-rich) flows, together with un-eaten food and decaying plant matter, from the fish tank into a biofilter. Afterward, inside this biofilter, bacteria break everything down into organic nutrient solutions (nitrogen-rich) for growing vegetables. To start aquaponics, the farm setup is essential. The setup requires the necessary tools, containers, and a few ingredients to raise the fish as well as plants. The setup depends upon the various techniques used such as:

1.??????Media Bed Technique: In this technique, the pants are grown on rock media like gravel and small round-shaped stones.

2.??????Deep Water Culture: Here, we use floating rafts to suspend the roots into the nutrient-rich medium.

3.??????Nutrient Film Technique (NFT): Long PVC pipes are used to grow plants. Wholes are created on the upper surface of the pipe to put the seedlings. From the pipe, the water is passed after removing the solid waste.

The concept of aquaponics can be traced back to the Aztec Indians who grew plants on the surface of the rafts above the lake. The concept is extremely simple a brings a lot to the table such as the following:

1.??????The yield is about six times more and it also requires 90% lesser water than in conventional farming.

2.??????The fish and plants are grown organically without the use of any chemical substance

3.??????Plants grow fast as compared to the traditional way of farming

4.??????There is no need for any external fertilizer as fish waste acts as the best natural fertilizer for plants

5.??????Reusable resources decrease the operating cost of the farm.

Aquaponic farming in India is still at a nascent stage with only a few large-scale commercial aquaponics farms like Land Craft Agro, Madhavi farms, and Red Otter farms. The factors influencing the low adoption rate of this technique are its high initial capital investment, the amount of knowledge one needs to have on the subject beforehand, and also the fact that this type of farming is not suitable for all crops. However, once the initial investment is done, the operating cost of running the system is comparatively lower than that of the conventional farming system. There are fewer risks involved in aquaponics in terms of pest and disease attacks, weeds, climate uncertainty, etc. Hence, it drastically decreases the cost of cultivation.

The UN predicts that by 2050, the population will grow up to 9.8 billion. Our current farming techniques may not be up to the task. Traditional farming nowadays might be making things worse, being the reason for destroying a good amount of the wilderness. We as a species have cleared a third of the forests and two-thirds of the world’s grasslands only for farming. With artificial farming coming into action, a lot of these problems will dial down. Most farmers are unaware of this type of farming and in my opinion, this is the right time for the government to take steps in educating the population and make an effort in initiating the necessary steps toward a more sustainable future.