Aquaponics, the combination fish farming with vegetable cultivation, is beginning to capture the imagination of farmers.
Faizal and Shemita, a couple in Choornikkara panchayat near Aluva, have set an example for other farmers to emulate. Their aquaponics experiment was spread over 10 cents, of which around 5 cents were dedicated to vegetable cultivation and the remaining portion to an artificial pond for growing fish.
The harvest of fish was inaugurated on Wednesday by film actor Harishree Ashokan.
Aquaponics involves recycling water from the fish-growing pond and using it in the vegetable growing area. The process is organic since the waste from the fish-growing water turns into a fertilizer for the vegetable plants even as the water gets purified after running through the vegetable field.
Around 300 kgs of fish, mostly nectar fish and tilapia, were harvested from the aquaponics plant on Thursday with the fish reaching sizes ranging between 600 gm and 700 gm each. An official of the Department of Agriculture, who supervised the aquaponics operations, said that the success would encourage more people to take up the organic process so that safe fish and vegetables would be available to people.
Aquaponics involves recycling water from the fish-growing pond
Vegetables can be harvested throughout the period of fish farming cycle
