Have you imagined producing your own vegetables, herbs and fish on a small scale for your own consumption or for a niche market?
In its latest issue, Landbouweekblad reports on something happening at the V&A Waterfront within the Mother City. Moyo restaurant, with initial help from Stellenbosch University, grows its own vegetables, herbs and fish using an aquaponics system.
Aquaponics uses water from a fish tank to feed plants. Of course it isn’t simply ordinary water. Thanks to the fish, it is rich with nutrients, specifically nitrates and phosphates, and these become the primary inputs for the plants. Leslie Ter Morshuizen, the major contributor to the aquaculture chapter in The Agri Handbook, writes that there are several benefits to aquaponics, including healthy plant roots, fewer pest problems, rapid growth and high production levels per unit area.
Read about urban agriculture, aquaculture, herbs and vegetables chapters in The Agri Handbook.
