Third-World Aquaponics

We don’t go to bed hungry, but a LOT of the people in the world do. We care about that. We’re committed to solving this problem, even though we have limited resources and are funding this effort entirely by ourselves. If you clicked on this page hoping to see designs for Third-world systems then we apologize to you. We don’t have them YET. 

However, neither does anyone else. We’ve seen a lot of people send aquaponics systems to “help” in the Third World, and what they’ve done is simply export existing high-tech, high-cost solutions employing expensive materials that utilize designs dependent on electricity 24/7 for aeration and water circulation. These systems are impossible for any Third World people to purchase or support on their own. Yes, these systems will help (if someone keeps pouring money into maintaining and running them) but some say that simply giving hungry people food is also “helping”.

We have an entirely different take on Third-World systems and what the Third World needs. We think there’s a system design out there that can be built for $2,500 worth of materials that will feed a village of 200 people. We know this system will be adopted by the locals because it will use locally available materials for construction, locally available skills to construct and operate, locally available energy sources (such as the childrens’ teeter-totter water pump in Gaviotas) and will be independently owned by the village, who will then take care of it because of the stake they have in its success and the food they derive from it.

We’ve made huge strides in the last four years in making aquaponics systems of our design more energy-efficient, labor-efficient, and less costly to build and operate. We know enough about aquaponics and the Third World to develop the Third-World systems we’re referring to here within a year if we had about $40,000 worth of funding. We’re not waiting for funding, but are doing this on our own, as funds and improvements in energy efficiency and system operating efficiency come from our ongoing commercial aquaponics farm R&D program. Would you like to speed up this process?

The problem we’re committed to solving is how to produce high-quality protein for Third-World people with almost no resources, without impacting their existing human or animal food sources. We will use garbage that is inedible as human or animal food to create food for fish for humans to eat, and use the fish effluent to produce vegetables for human consumption.

I (Tim) spent five years in a country in which typhoid, diphtheria, syphilis, and dengue outbreaks were common; I met crippled 20-year-olds who had contracted polio as children (I had polio as a child fifty-six years ago). I personally contracted amoebic dysentery, Hepatitis B, and dengue (breakbone fever) during those five years.

I ran a boatbuilding operation in this Third-World country, where I learned to speak the language and trained unskilled workers to become boatbuilders. At its height, my boatshop employed 22 people, few of whom could read or even recognize themselves in a photo. I was at the end of the world’s supply lines. Our shop built eleven 34′ motorboats, three 40′ sailing passenger catamarans, a 32′ cargo boat and a 45′er, and many smaller boats under 30′ long, all constructed in a dirt-floored boatshop under a big tree. I know how things work, and how to get things done in the confusion and political corruption often experienced in Third World countries.

My wife and business partner Susanne Friend grew up in Pakistan, India, Indonesia, West Africa, and China thirty years ago and experienced Third-World life firsthand. She has degrees in biology and chemistry. She and I are knowledgeable, competent, and highly motivated to design workable systems to be built and maintained with available technology and resources, and which will reduce human suffering and improve people’s quality of life.

Susanne and I operate a First-World aquaponics vegetable and fish farm on the island of Hawaii (see www.friendlyaquaponics.com). Our farm produces eight times more vegetable produce in the same time and in the same land area as conventional dirt farming, while using only 12% of the energy per pound of produce as does farming in the ground, with only 2% of the water used. The energy used is all electrical, which means it can be supplied with alternate energy sources (wind power is under development). This is the first food production system which does not require any oil! At the end of 2008, we were producing 2,200 pounds of vegetables and 300 pounds of fish per month, from nothing a year prevously. This is a First-World food production system and is not what we’re proposing for developing countries.

We have designed a related system for developing countries that does not require any expensive, technically sophisticated components; it will be built from bamboo or wood, window screen, and black plastic by untrained and unskilled workers; it will be operated and maintained by children; and it will produce high-quality fish protein using garbage that even hungry pigs would not eat, as the food source for the fish. As a side benefit, this system induces a large reduction in the populations of flying insects (which are also disease vectors) around any village or area in which it is employed; this will hugely improve the health of the local inhabitants. Aquaponics systems also eliminate mosquitoes in a large area around them (click here to see our page “Malaria Eradication Systems”), which will further benefit the villager’s health.

Here’s how it works: insect traps made of bamboo and window screen are baited with insect lure attractants for day-flyers, and solar-powered light attractors for night-flying insects. The insects fly into the traps and are caught in a removable portable portion of the trap we’ll call a “suitcase”, made of bamboo, window screen, and local fiber. This “suitcase” has a small container inside it where trapped flies will go to lay their eggs, which then turn into maggots that will also provide food for the fish. These “suitcases” are collected every morning by children from the traps, which are strategically placed around the village, and are taken to the fish rearing location where they are emptied underwater so no bugs can escape, into the fish ponds or tanks.

The fish will get an incredible high-protein, high-fat food that has been created entirely from garbage; the people who have these systems will get a much-needed high-protein, high-fat food (the fish), which has been created entirely from garbage, some window screen, and a little human ingenuity. Any grains or other vegetables the people already grow will be supplemented with this high-quality protein. If you have ever spent any time in developing countries you will know there are often enough carbohydrates in people’s diets, BUT THERE IS NEVER ENOUGH PROTEIN!

To culture the fish there are many options, and these Third-World aquaponic systems will meet the requirements of several distinct types of local conditions: where there are bodies of water, systems of raising fish using cheap enclosures called hapas (used extensively in in-ground fish ponds in Thailand) will be utilized. Where there is not much water, we will use holes in the ground or structures built up from rocks with cheap plastic liners to hold the water. If there is existing aquaculture, this idea will increase its yields many times over, as Third-World aquaculturists simply cannot afford to feed their fish anything with real food value because it is necessary for human consumption.

The fish water, which is full of ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates (fertilizer) from the fish wastes, is routed through lined vegetable troughs where just about any carbohydrate crop they are already growing locally will grow two times as fast as in the dirt, and larger.

There DOES need to be a source of water somewhere near, or adequate rainfall. This will not work where there is only a single, barely sufficient well for a whole village. It is to some degree site-limited. But it will be highly applicable in a significant portion of the world: where there is more than 50″ of annual rainfall, or near any lake, river, spring, constantly running stream, or sufficient ground water that can be easily pumped with alternate energy.

That’s it. We can prototype it economically in Hawaii until it works well, then distribute it and educate people how to build it and use it. It will generate a tremendous level of food independence thoughout small villages, whereby people are feeding themselves, locally and sustainably, rather than going hungry, waiting for someone else to feed them. The funding and administration for this work will be provided by competent locally run microlending programs and woman-owned microbanks. We recommend women be the administrators for these programs wherever culturally acceptable.

We need help to make this a reality. We’ve got the knowledge to develop this solution, but are moving slowly because we have limited resources and have to fund development of these systems ourselves. We just need funding. Can you help?