Home » Developing integrated agriculture-aquaculture-livestock production: economically viable solutions for African farmers
“There is a need for climate-controlled agriculture in Africa due to global warming. The PrAEctiCe project brings sustainable agricultural technology into the African context.”
Dr Alyssa Joyce
Aquaponics is the merging of aquaculture and hydroponics systems where water, nutrients and energy can be recycled; in such systems, for instance, fish wastes can be used as plant fertilisers, water can be recovered for irrigation of crops, as well as energy and CO2 for re-use. It is a sustainable and natural method of growing leafy vegetables and raising edible fish for consumption, especially in situations where there is drought, soil fertility loss, and other impacts of climate change. It is also useful in urban areas close to large markets with limited arable land or issues with transportation supply chains for fresh products.
It is a popular production system with a growing interest for industrial-scale production worldwide, particularly for fresh lettuce, herbs and other products that have high spoilage rates during transportation or are difficult to grow in hot, humid tropical climates or high latitudes where there are cold, dark winters.
The African context requires economically viable approaches for solutions to malnutrition and food insecurity. Green vegetable crops and fish provide a promising nutritious alternative that can be grown at a small scale in East African agriculture and integrated with permaculture, agroforestry, and livestock production.
Indeed, such integrated systems have been practised in Asia for millennia and have great potential for market gardening, social engagement projects in institutions such as schools and prisons, and solving food security issues in urban areas, refugee camps, or other areas where conventional agriculture is challenging.
Victor Lobanov, a current PhD student in Dr Joyce’s group, will be a Postdoc in the PrAEctiCe project, where he will be working on low-cost designs for energy production and recovery in an aquaponics system, including better use of solar and wind energy, as well as heat and CO2 from digestion processes that are utilised to remineralise nutrients from fish wastes within the system.
PrAEctiCe Living Labs in Namulonge, Uganda and Kisumu, Kenya, will pilot sustainable aquaponics approaches supported by The University of Gothenburg.