Third World Aquaponics Development Timeline And Tasks
Included with this paper is a whitepaper describing the third world aquaponics system we have conceptually designed. It breaks down the "Third World System" into two categories: Profit, and Subsistence. We already have the "profit" systems, well developed and definitely profitable anywhere there's a good market (as near big cities), but the subsistence systems are the ones that need development work and capital.
Some of our clients have taken these profit systems into third world situations, where they operate them on generators and solar panels, for the "benefit" of the locals. But this is the same as just giving food to the locals to help "solve" hunger. The locals never own or understand the technology, and the benefit disappears as soon as the non-profit or church stops pouring money into the project because they have problems closer to home.
These profit systems can be implemented now; and you will make money on them right away. However, these systems are relatively expensive to construct and operate, and you need to sell their produce to pay the workers, the costs, and generate a profit. They are not appropriate for feeding poor people in a subsistence context, because they are simply too expensive. We see the subsistence system as filling this need.
So, this document gives an overview of a third-world aquaponic development process for the subsistence systems I refer to above. It will help you understand some of the issues and hurdles we need to overcome, to be successful at what we're suggesting we partner with you for.
We've come to understand that subsistence systems need to be cheap, easily built out of familiar materials the locals have the skills to manipulate, and must be able to be operated by illiterate people with no outside input. The locals need to own these systems. We have conceptual "snapshots" for all of the sub-systems in the ideal "subsistence system", and this is what we need the funding I refer to for: to develop these concepts through to the third or fourth generation so they are bulletproof and work in the field.
Here's a simplified outline of the development process for the subsistence Third-World system, showing the conceptual pieces we already have in place;:
1. Develop And Perfect Aquaponic Water Pumping Systems For Different Locations
A. "Gaviotas-type" human-powered pumps: seesaw pumps, merry-go-round pumps, treadle pumps, and (?).
B. Wind-powered pumps for locations with intermitten or dependable wind.
C. Cheap and dependable PV-powered pumps for locations with security.
D. Water-powered "ram" pumps for locations with dependable flowing water
E. Quantify minimum necessary exchange rates for fish tank water out to plant growing troughs (2x/day?, 4x/day? unknown at this point where performance drops off, or other difficulties begin).
F. Develop and perfect raft "movement systems" that eliminate 90% of the water pumping requirement (this would take a CAD drawing and a separate one-page description to demonstrate, but once you see it, it is obvious).
2. Aeration
A. Develop 1-A so that these pumps also aerate the water
B. Investigate efficiency of alternate methods of aeration: wind-powered for locations where dependable wind exists, and water-powered for locations where dependable flowing water exists.
C. Investigate DO levels necessary in aquaponics systems with catfish for the "fertilizer" species (catfish need far lower DO's than other fish, minimizing the aeration component of these systems).
D. Investigate DO levels necessary in aquaponics systems with turtles/iguanas/alligators for the "fertilizer" species (turtles, etc., don't need any aeration; this means we only need to supply aeration for the plants in these systems, which minimizes the aeration component of these systems, which reduces construction cost and energy costs). Using these cold-blooded species is the same as using fish, which negates or minimizes the risk of vegetable produce contamination with E. coli and other dangerous bacteria.
3. Fish Species and Polyculture Methodology
A. Develop methodologies for polyculture of locally attractive species. Polyculture means you have several animals in the same system, and they are not antagonistic to each other, and in fact often are complementary: the prawns eat the fish poop and so on. Polyculture allows you to get more protein out of a given system for a given input.
B. Quantify catfish aeration requirements with the view of reducing aeration energy needs in systems.
C. Investigate turtle aquaponics and turtle meat production,
D. Investigate "gatorponics" and alligator meat production
E. Investigate "chickenponics" and chicken meat production (all plants out of this kind of a system would need to be cooked, because of the possibility of e. coli contamination from the chicken poop).
4. Plant Species And Protein Production
A. Investigate aquaponic production of typical "native" staple plant species such as moringa, cassava, sweet potato, taro, yam, and others to quantify productivity, cost to produce (in terms of labor hours) and cost and ease of incorporation into aquaponics systems.
B. Investigate "aquaponics-assisted" vegetable production, where we use aquaponics system water to irrigate bananas, cassava, moringa, sweet potato, taro, yam and others in the ground to quantify all possible combinations of aquaponics systems with "conventional" local growing of crops. Doesn't require fertile soil: this can be done with sand, gravel, or relatively alkaline soils that don't contain enough nutrients for conventional soil-based agricultural techniques to succeed.
C. Investigate crops for wet locations, dry locations, and those in between.
5. Affordable Construction And Materials Alternatives
A. Develop systems for concrete-based fish tanks and troughs
B. Develop systems for plastic-lined earthen fish tanks and troughs
C. Develop systems for unlined earthen fish tanks and troughs
D. Develop a "living greenhouse" for hot conditions using edible vine plants and bamboo/local sapling trees for the structure/shading
6. Viable Locations, Water Requirements, And The Human Factor
A. Quantify minimum water requirements to determine the driest location that can successfully utilize aquaponic growing systems.
B. Develop systems to utilize more water profitably in locations with more water.
C. Instigate preliminary contact with NGO's and others in potential deployment locations to start determining where the first systems will be placed.
We need from $40,000 to $120,000 for the first-year development program. At the end of that time, we would have good working subsistence systems for three or four different climatic regimes developed along the lines of the "Outline" above and will have begun relationships with four or five different NGO's in your country to start deployment of these systems.
The $40,000 level means I would spend about 1/4 of my time on this project, the $120,000 is me devoting all of my time to it to completion. The year's equipment and materials for these prototype systems would not be more than $10,000 or so of these figures, the balance would allow me to stop worrying about cash flow on our farm, and spend more ($40,000) or all of my time ($120,000) on development of these systems. As much as we'd like to, we simply don't have this kind of time to devote to projects that don't help keep us financially afloat.
The ideal investor would be someone whose first-year's return on the project would come from the publicity they would get for supporting such a venture more than the monetary return:
Example: "Sustainable Aquaponic Food Production For The Third World Project" initial funding came from XYZ corp, who is concerned about ALL the world's citizens. There are many possibilities for "Paul Polak-style" appropriate capitalism in third-world countries that actually generates a good profit for the investors (see http://www.paulpolak.com/html/design.html and http://www.d-rev.org/ for examples of this kind of development).
As soon as we have working third-world systems, we have a potentially profitable technology to deploy and sell, and profitability is only dependent on getting it to the appropriate market segment who can afford it and will appreciate it. Aquaponic Micro-Lending Coop Banks might be a great way to do this. This is where the monetary return on investment for the second year and beyond kicks in.
Susanne and I have been "working" on this for nearly four years now, and have gotten it to this point through ongoing discussions, lots of sketches and brainstorming, but haven't had the time or financial freedom to build and test some of this stuff into the third or fourth generation, which is what's needed to know it is dependable and productive.
Thanks for your interest. Aloha, Tim and Susanne.....