Most food in Africa is produced by smallholder farmers. However, productivity is typically low as they are constrained by poor soil fertility, lack of skills, and water scarcity. Inputs are costly and infrequently or incorrectly applied. Climate change and phosphate depletion exacerbate this.

To ensure food security for growing populations, more productive agricultural approaches need to be developed.

As reported in our previous article about aquaponics, Dr. Simon Goddek (researcher at Wageningen University [1] and CEO of Developonics and Leakygut.de [2, 3]) is convinced that aquaponics might provide a solution for these issues. “Until now, aquaponics systems in which plants and fish are kept in one cycle were considered a contribution towards sustainability”, Dr. Goddek said. “However, from an economic point of view this approach cannot keep up with hydroponic practices”.