–    Tool to bolster Food Security and Environmental Sustainability

Improved crop production practices, diversification of the agriculture sector and encouragement of mini-aquaponics systems are some of the key focus areas of the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI), as it seeks to advance the concept of aquaponics.
Director of NARI, Dr. Oudho Homenauth, in an invited comment, stressed that the new technology will be another tool Guyana’s agriculture sector can boast of in its attempt to bolster food security and environmental sustainability.
Integrated aquaponics is simply the integration of hydroponics – a method of growing plants, in Guyana it is mostly green leafy products, using mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil – and aquaculture or fish-farming.
“The recycling of nutrients has its own set of benefits as it relates to the environment,” he said.
Aquaponics is the cultivation of plants and aquatic animals in a re-circulating environment.  Aquatic animal effluent (for example fish waste) accumulates in water as a by-product of keeping them in a closed system or tank, for example a re-circulating aquaculture system. The effluent-rich water becomes high in plant nutrients but this is correspondingly toxic to the aquatic animal.
Plants are grown in a way that enables them to utilize the nutrient-rich water. The plants take up the nutrients, reducing or eliminating the water’s toxicity for the aquatic animal. The water, now clean, is returned to the aquatic animal environment and the cycle continues.
Aquaponics systems do not discharge or exchange water. The systems rely on the relationship between the aquatic animals and the plants to maintain the environment. Water is only added to replace water loss from absorption by the plants, evaporation into the air, or the removal of biomass from the system. Also the systems vary in size from small indoor units to large commercial units. They can use fresh or salt water depending on the type of aquatic animal and vegetation.
According to a report from the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service (NSAIS), aquaponics serves as a model of sustainable food production by following certain principles:
•    The waste products of one biological system serve as nutrients for a second biological system;
•    The integration of fish and plants results in a polyculture that increases diversity and yields multiple products;
•    Water is re-used through biological filtration and recirculation; and
•    Local food product ion provides access to healthy foods and enhances the local economy.
Homenauth told the Guyana Chronicle that aquaponics is not being done locally on a large scale yet, but maintained that partnerships are being forged with stakeholders in the aquaculture sector to develop the technology.
Currently, according to him, in the pipelines is the completion of the site for demonstration of the aquaponics technology, as well as the purchase and installation of equipment.  Planting and introduction of fingerlings are also expected to commence soon after that.
The NARI Director highlighted that the technology’s development will take some time since the technology has to be just right.
“With aquaponics, if you use the water and it is not right, if the effluents are too rich with one particular thing it can kill the plants…we have to get the technology right,” Homenauth said.

CATCHY CONCEPT

The concept of aquaponics, according to the NSAIS, is catching on for several reasons:
•    Hydroponic growers view fish-manured irrigation water as a source of organic fertilizer that enables plants to grow well.
•    Fish farmers view hydroponics as a bio-filtration method to facilitate intensive re-circulating aquaculture.
•    Greenhouse growers view aquaponics as a way to introduce organic hydroponic produce into the marketplace, since the only fertility input is fish feed and all of the nutrients pass through a biological process.
•    Food-producing greenhouses yielding two products from one production unit are naturally appealing for niche marketing and green labeling.
•    Aquaponics can enable the production of fresh vegetables and fish protein in arid regions and on water limited farms, since it is a water re-use system.
•    Aquaponics is a working model of sustainable food production wherein plant and animal agriculture are integrated and recycling of nutrients and water filtration are linked.
•    In addition to commercial application, aquaponics has become a popular training aid on integrated bio-systems with vocational agriculture programmes and high school biology classes.
However, the NSAIS  has recognised that the technology associated with aquaponics is complex.
Stakeholders in the agriculture sector agree that aquaponics requires the ability to manage the production and marketing of two different agricultural products at the same time.

INNOVATION

Stakeholders in the sector concur that the beauty of the aquaponics concept is that there is much room for innovation.
Homenauth pointed out that there are different ways of doing aquaponics, everything from  using an entire pond to a barrel.
“You can do a lot to use it more efficiently, the best way that suits the farmer,” the NARI Director said.
Mr. Beni Sankar is President of the National Aquaculture Association of Guyana (NAAG), one of the key partners in the advancement of the aquaponics technology.
Having personally explored the new technology, he maintained that once the water quality is right, aquaponics can be done both on land and in the fish ponds themselves.
Sankar explained that on land, if the farmer has an integrated farming system, then aquaponics can improve productivity.
On the other hand, he said plants can be suspended on materials such as Styrofoam with the roots protruding downward in the fish pond itself.
“There are different ways to do aquaponics and you can dabble with new ideas, but it must be done in the right conditions with the right plants. With doing aquaponics in the pond and suspending the plant on Styrofoam, the plant must be right for that condition. It has to be something like lettuce not Boulanger…it has to be done right from the start,” he said.
Sankar stressed that the aquaponics is a complex concept, but has great potential, especially with the advancements being made in aquaculture.