Grow fresh, healthy food with aquaponics
KUCHING: Food safety remains a constant challenge globally with toxic pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, antibiotics and hormones residual in food affecting human health.
Health conscious urbanites are looking into growing their own food through traditional and organic planting, hydroponic and aquaponics which is fast becoming a popular farming method.
Aquaponist Philip Loo from Loo Urban Farm pointed out that aquaponics is the most sustainable farming method to produce both fish and vegetables for the family and community.
Aquaponics, according to Loo, combines aquaculture, the raising of edible fish, with hydroponics, a method of growing plants in a soilless medium.
“The fish feed to the plant. The plant cleans the water and return it to fish in a closed loop system. Aquaponic has all the benefits of hydroponics but better in many ways. There is no soil, no watering, no weeding, no tedious work compared to conventional planting,” he said in a publicity release yesterday.
“Water for the fish does not have to be changed. It is a closed loop recirculating system without discharge. The fish waste provides an organic food source for the growing plants and the plants provide a natural filter for the water the fish live in. As such, it will not cause pollution to our ecosystem and environment,” he added.
Aquaponics farming, he continued, is most suitable for urban city with limited space and more importantly to bring family and people together with a common interest for healthy food.
“What I love about aquaponics is the flexibility to design the system based on your preference and space. The benefits are far reaching including helping to green up our environment by reducing food miles and carbon footprint,” he said.
While many people have shown interest in aquaponics farming, Loo emphasised that having the basic knowledge and understanding of the techniques in aquaponics farming, not based on hearsay or learning from the internet, is most important for successful outcome.
Loo has spent many years researching the aquaponics system and has successfully integrated it with other farming methods to invent HAVVA Technology for the most efficient and effective system to produce fresh, healthy and safe food.
Loo will be conducting a workshop on Sept 15 to teach aquaponics and how to build aquaponics system.
Due to the nature of the workshop, limited seats are available. For details, visit the website http:// loourbanfarm. com/workshop/ kuching or Whatapps 016- 418 1708.