Aquaponics:A Boon for Food Security

Need: As the population continues to grow, the ability to produce food will become more difficult due to limited land and water resources globally. The present methods to grow and food have many negative impacts on environment and ultimately to the human health. An alternative food production method such as aquaponics provides an option to minimize those negative effects to the environment. Therefore, an introduction to aquaponics system, the combined production of fish in recirculated aquaculture systems and hydroponically grown plants, has gained popularity over the last several years due to its sustainability and less requirement of water and space. Thus, an aquaponic system can benefit the aquaculture operation by improving the quality of recirculated water or by reducing costs associated with treating effluent from flow-through raceways. A harmful faecal matter of fish becomes a beneficial input for plant production in aquaponic system. There is no requirement of fertilizers (may be harmful chemicals) and extra labour input in hydroponic culture system to maintain adequate nutrient level for plant growth. Thus, the merger of fish culture with plant culture in aquaponics system allows both operations to reduce inputs enhance the farmers income and makes the enterprise more sustainable.