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Abstract
Increasing demand on water resources, reduced land water availability, and concerns over food security have spurred the evolution of many innovative and complex food production. An aquaponic system is a productive, innovative, and sustainable fish and vegetable production system that is revolutionizing agriculture in the face of drought, soil fertility losses, and climate change. Aquaponics, as an advanced aquaculture-agriculture system, is expected to improve food security in developing countries. However, as an emerging technology, there is very limited information on the system in Africa. Questions about the ecological and socio-economic sustainability of aquaponics are answered in this comprehensive review. This review considers aquaponics projects in Africa, categorizes the technology by evidences of their effectiveness, fish and plant yields, and juxtaposes the technology within best-use practices to make recommendations that will inform evidence-based policymaking. It also maps the present spatial adoption of the technology in sub-Saharan Africa and highlights the system's contribution to improving food security on the continent. Egypt and South Africa are countries where aquaponics is emerging and being adopted at faster rates and contributing to food security. In West Africa, significantly lower net-discounted benefit-cost ratios were realized when aquaponics systems were constructed using imported materials compared to using locally available materials. Despite aquaponics systems generally having higher start-up costs currently, its potential to be economically viable when undertaken with local materials is very high.
Highlights
One of the greatest challenges facing the world is how to meet the nutritional needs of a growing human population that is projected to hit 10 billion by 2050
There is no simple solution to ensuring food security, but technological innovations in food production systems can directly support food insecure people to achieve some level of food self-sufficiency, nutrition security
With current food production goals no longer aimed at maximizing productivity but optimizing outputs across different production systems, aquaponics technology holds an immense potential in ensuring food security in many parts of Africa
Summary
One of the greatest challenges facing the world is how to meet the nutritional needs of a growing human population that is projected to hit 10 billion by 2050. Be challenged by factors such as climate change, pollution and degradation of arable lands (Goddek et al, 2019a). Aquaponics Development in Africa continent’s already dire food insecurity situation. These challenges to food production require innovation in food production systems, methods and practices, given that a billion people are already chronically malnourished (Godfray et al, 2010). Aquaponics emerges as a key technology with potential to transform agriculture and enhance food security in the wake of climate change, in arid regions (Conijn et al, 2018). The technology is, rapidly transforming from a largely backyard technology into industrial-scale production due to practical improvements in design and practice which have significantly increased both fish and crop output capacities and production efficiencies (Bernstein, 2011). This chapter focuses on the adoption of aquaponics technology and reviews published information to highlight the potential of the technology in contributing to food security issues
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