Article & Photos Estelle Kempen
DEPARTMENT OF AGRONOMY, FACULTY OF AGRISCIENCES
STELLENBOSCH UNIVERSITY
One of the key principles of food security is the access to healthy food. It
means that all people should at all times have access to sufficient amounts of
nutritious and safe foods.
A
ccording to some definitions it also implicates
that food needs to be
produced in an environmentally sustainable way. When
looking at this definition, an alternative method of food production
that ticks all of these boxes is aquaponics. Aquaponics of course refers
to the growing system where a variety of crops can be grown hydro-
The aquaculture unit containing the
tilapia and carp of the aquaponics
research unit at Stellenbosch University
ponically through using the water
discharged from an aquaculture
unit. The plants in turn act as a biological filter, removing excess nutrients from the water before it is
pumped back to the aquatic animals, thus ensuring a healthy environment for the production of
these aquatic animals. In a single
symbiotic unit it is therefore possible to produce both protein rich
and nutrient dense foods essential
for human wellbeing.
The settling tanks and biofilters
of the aquaponics research unit
at Stellenbosch University
Different growing systems and crop
rotations are being evaluated in the
aquaponics research unit at Stellenbosch University.
The fish excretions provide almost
all the nutrients needed by the
plants for optimal growth. The
most popular crops in these systems include all leafy vegetables
such as lettuce, spinach, kale, herbs
and then also fruiting crops such as
tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and