AQUAPONICS
AQUAPONICS, is the combination of aquaculture
(raising fish) and hydroponics (the soil-less growing of plants) that grows fish and plants together in
one integrated system. The fish waste provides an organic food source for the
plants, and the plants naturally filter the water for the fish.
Hydroponics
is basically growing plants without soil. It is a more efficient way to provide
food and water to your plants. Plants don’t use soil – they use the food and
water that are in the soil. Soil’s function is to supply plants nutrients and
to anchor the plants’ roots. In a hydroponic garden, you provide your plants
with a complete nutrient formula and an inert growing medium to anchor your
plants’ roots so they have easier access to the food and water.
In our business we will be farming Fishes and
cultivating different crops like vegetables, fruits like pineapples, strawberry
and tomatoes.
This is the
illustration of the Aquaponics system of farming.
The idea of this
business come into our mind when we realizes that we face some problems
concerning agricultural production and its effects to the environment so we
decides to come up with the good environmental friendly agriculture practices.
·
The following are
constraints or problems that make us think of this good business idea.
i.
Low productivity
ii.
Over fishing
iii.
Disappearance of
valuable fish species
iv.
Poor food nutrition
v.
Low organic food
production
vi.
Environmental
pollution
This business idea is going to address
the mentioned above problems by doing the following.
i.
Increase the fishing
and agriculture productivity so as the meet the demand of fish protein and
vegetables
ii.
Preserve the
disappearance of fish species that have been over fished, by introducing fish
reserve ponds where different kind of fish species will be kept.
iii.
Increase production of
organic farming crops like vegetables, strawberry’s, tomatoes, pineapples, that
are 100% organic and free from agro
chemicals
iv.
Sustainable
agriculture that involves both
production to meet current demand of population and future population
through sustainably utilize the economic resources.
v.
Increase standard of
living through provision of nutritious food 100% organic and raising the income
of the member of community who will be participating in this project.
The Uniqueness of This Idea.
Our
Aquaponics farming is unique business that has the potential of being viable.
The following are some point that show the uniqueness of our idea.
i. Increase the fishing
and agriculture productivity so as the meet the demand of fish protein and
vegetables
ii. Preserve the
disappearance of fish species that have been over fished, by introducing fish
reserve ponds where different kind of fish species will be kept.
iii.
Increase production of
organic farming crops like vegetables, strawberry’s, tomatoes, pineapples, that
are 100% organic and free from agro
chemicals
iv.
Sustainable
agriculture that involves both
production to meet current demand of population and future population
through sustainably utilize the economic resources.
v. Increase standard of
living through provision of nutritious food 100% organic and raising the income
of the member of community who will be participating in this project.
What we need for this idea to be
implemented.
i. First we need financial support as initial capital to run this business
ii. Strong team work that is committed to that business
iii. Good government support in term of external market and policies that encourage Aquaponics
iv. Agricultural expert for extension services in our farm
v. Plenty availability of water supply.
REFERENCES
Somerville, C., Cohen, M., Pantanella, E., Stankus, A.
& Lovatelli, A. 2014. Small-scale
aquaponic foodproduction. Integrated fish and plant farming. FAO Fisheries
and Aquaculture Technical Paper No. 589. Rome, FAO. 262 pp
The aquaponic source https://www.theaquaponicsource.com/what-is-aquaponics/
visited or retrieved 6 June 25, 2017
Hydro farm
introduction to hydroponics https://www.hydrofarm.com/resources/intro-to-hydro
retrieved 6 June 25, 2017
Rakocy, James E.; Bailey, Donald S.; Shultz, R.
Charlie; Thoman, Eric S. "Update
on Tilapia and Vegetable Production in the UVI Aquaponic System" (PDF). University of
the Virgin Islands Agricultural Experiment Station. Retrieved 6 June 25, 2017