Economic Sustainability of Small-Scale Aquaponic Systems for Food Self-Production

José Lobillo-Eguíbar,Luis Pérez-Urrestarazu,Luis Alberto Bermejo,Víctor M Fernández-Cabanás

doi:10.3390/agronomy10101468

José Lobillo-Eguíbar, Luis Pérez-Urrestarazu + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10101468

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Abstract

Aquaponics involves the simultaneous production of plants and fish and it is increasingly being used with a self-consumption purpose. However, there are uncertainties and little information about the economic sustainability of small-scale self-managed aquaponic systems. The objective of this study was to obtain economic information about these systems, including the level of commoditization of food production as a measure of their autonomy. For this purpose, two small-scale aquaponic systems (SAS) based on FAO models were self-constructed using cheap and easy-to-obtain materials and monitored for a year. A total of 62 kg of tilapia and 352 kg of 22 different vegetables and fruits were produced, with an average net agricultural added value of 151.3 €. Results showed positive accounting profit but negative economic profit when labor costs were included. The degree of commoditization was around 44%, which allows a certain autonomy, thanks to the use of family labor force.

Highlights

Aquaponics is a technique that combines the simultaneous production of plants and fish, and it is often presented as a more sustainable method for food production, given that it aims to optimize the resources employed to grow both vegetables and fish, minimizing pollution [1].To do so, the water employed in the aquaculture subsystem is fed to the hydroponic subsystem.The metabolic waste from fish and unconsumed feed is transformed by a bacterial community into assimilated nutrients that plants use to grow
In order to assess the aquaponic production in economic terms, all the values for the investment in installations and equipment, depreciation, specific costs, overheads and labor costs and productions obtained were computed
scale aquaponic systems (SAS) are popular in many countries at the family level for domestic food production, there are hardly any economic data on this type of aquaponic production, especially when destined to obtain a polyculture of vegetables

Summary

Introduction

The metabolic waste from fish and unconsumed feed is transformed by a bacterial community into assimilated nutrients (i.e., nitrates, phosphates) that plants use to grow. The water may be returned to the fish tanks (in coupled systems) [2,3,4]. Aquaponic production can have different objectives: commercial [5,6], educational [7], as entertainment or a hobby, research [8] or food production for subsistence and domestic use (familial self-consumption). For this last purpose, low-cost, small-scale aquaponic systems (SAS) [5]

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