Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

As has been discussed in several threads, aquaponics is proving to be a sustainable form of agriculture and is efficient in many ways providing both vegetables and animal protein at low water usage rates.

I stumbled on this site and was impessed at the picture of tilapia growth over a short time in a bangladesh project.

http://www.aquaculturewithoutfrontiers. ... fault.aspx

http://www.aquaculturewithoutfrontiers.org

For general interest it may be worth citing some more AID organisations that have an interest in aquaculture and aquaponics here as a reference.

Who knows who may stumble onto the site and the list and do some good with it.

Johnny,
Great idea! I have wondered why there are so many aid organizations in the world who will spend tons of money buying food for people in countries where there are deeper, more extensive problems than just hunger or disease. Most often we need to work with the people in those countries to get some sort of stability and one of the best one is to make them self sufficient. Aquaponics, and other agricultural pursuits can help do this. "If you give a man a fish you feed him for a day; if you teach him to fish he can eat for a lifetime!"

Kevin

"if you give a man fish you feed him for a day; if you give him a aquaponic system you feed him til the stock runs out"

as well as his family and freinds

This thread reminded me that I must update the Aceh thread with some pictures.

You can see the pictures here, in this thread:
http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/vie ... =1143#1143

Thanks for the link back to the Aceh thread! Great pictures, and I hope you get an update from them soon.

One of the biggest problems with Aid Organizations is they give things to people in undeveloped or ravaged areas, and after they leave and the item breaks down the people do not see the value in repairing and keeping the thing operating. By having the local Indonesians working on the system, and "paying" for the materials and putting time into the construction they will understand the value and will keep it up and running. (The BBC overnight had an article on the radio about this with the problem of indoor air pollution from cooking/heating fires in Nepal. When the health officials recognized the problem they also came to the understanding that the local people had to have some sort of investment into creating a solution. The net result, locally produced metal vent hoods, attached to simple flues. Other than the cost of the materials, the local people pay for or provide the manpower to construct and install the systems.)

Hopefully, we will see more AP and other systems installed that people can construct locally, from either readily available materials or ones easily brought to the area.

Kevin

We could become our own AID organisation helping establish AP systems where there are none. I have a friend that goes to Africa every year to volunteer to teach English. Suppose we had an AP member, or rotating AP members be sponsored by us and travel to a remote location to set up and help maintain a system?

Let's be part of the solution.

Neat idea Mike! Of course the thing is to get the local people to see the benefits of the system in relation to the amount of work it takes to set one up and operate it. Naturally, in my mind if you are starving or having children with health problems due to malnutrition you will go the route of doing whatever gives the greatest returns with the least troubles. (That is why so many organizations that hand out food and medicine end up having problems with thousands of people in camps, away from the land, using up the supplies they bring and in the end overpopulating themselves without concerns of maintaining thier population.) If AP can be presented, as an option, to people who have a committment to staying where they are, then it might "catch on" and benefit those who need an increase in the amount of nutrition they can produce for themselves.

Kevin

The difficulty is that people in need don't have the option of "learning how to fish" and go wherever someone is "giving out fish" AP is not a short term solution - just talk to anyone on the forum eating $500 salads. But, teaching AP gives people payback in 1-3 years, and the cost drops near zero.
The trick is going to get people to see the long-term issues and implement a system that takes time, money, and effort in the short term for the long-term benefit of feeding many for a long time.

I've had this conversation a few times with a few different people now and as much as I love aquaponics, I don't see it as being the answer for third world countries.. If a pump blows or pipe breaks they may not be able to fix it.. If the power goes out, what then?

I think a better answer for most third world countries is simple permaculture methods of food production. If they don't have the infrastructure of replacement parts and reliable power supplies then an aquaponic system might even up becoming a liability if all their eggs are in the AP basket.

What the poor countries have is plenty of labor. They can manually cycle thier AP systems with simple hand crank pumps. Also Solar/Wind power and low tech, slow pumps are a solution in AP IMHO. The life of a small solar array and a slow pump is 15 years continuous.

I just watched a sad documentary last night that exposed the groundwater contamination problem created by the United States military at the bases in Subic Bay and Clark Ari Force Base in the Phillipines. The people left behind when the military pulled out suffered higher rates of Lukemia, infant mortality and deformation from the haz mat seepage into the water table. Jet fuel, hydraulic fluid, degreasing solvents, etc etc all found thier way into the soil. Those people cannot use the water in the ground to grow thier crops. I thought if there were a way to carry water from a distance they could use AP to save water and grow crops in clean water.

Mike, I think the idea of using wind or solar is a possible solution to power supply problems. Here in the midwest I have seen windmill pumps that have been in operation for almost one hundred years with little more than simple routine maintainence. (Replacement of "leathers", and sucker rods, etc.) As to the issue of water, if transporting it via simple gravity flow pipelines or aquaducts would not be feasible, than I guess you could look at either rainfall or transporting it by water buffalo or donkey cart. Your biggest problems will occur in areas where it is so naturally arid that water is so lacking that you might not have an adequate rain for several years or the cost of developing a well would be too prohibitive. Still, in areas where there are ample water supplies, favorable ambient temps, and enough days of sunshine or wind to provide a non-petroleum derived power supply.
Kevin

I think AP is feasible as you said given that there is an accessible water supply (doesn't have to be alot) and use of a low tech, low friction pump device hooked either to a renewable energy power source or simple human or animal labor.

The issue is when to use AP....

1) When soil is so poor or contaminiated as not to support crops
2) When water conservation is critical.

Otherwise, I agree with Joel that permaculture would be more practical. The only difference in my mind between AP and permaculture is essentially the plastic barrier that exists between the water and the soil. All crop irrigation can be done manually.

Yep, you've hit the nail on the head there. If there's soil contamination, you don't have much choice.

Unfortunately, another problem that might also require it's use is when there is water pollution. We often forget that native species often require special environments in which to breed and brood young. In some parts of the world this is no longer possible due to man's polluting the environment. Often we think of pollution as being toxic chemicals, but for some aquatic species it can be as simple as an excessive amount of silt in the water due to agricultural or logging operations. Whenever this occurs man can help by rearing young fish and either releasing them into the natural environment or keeping the species alive until the environment can be rehabilitated to the point they can be reintroduced.

Kevin