Implementing Aquaponics in the Gaza Strip

Field

Category:

Location/Scale:

Gaza Strip (Regional)

Implementing Organisation:

FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN)

Period:

2010 – now

In a nutshell

Aquaponics is the combination of soilless vegetable growing (hydroponics) and fish farming (aquaculture) within a closed recirculating system that uses nutrient-rich wastewater from the fish tanks as an organic fertilizer for plant production. This removes both the need for chemical fertilizers as well the disposal of fish wastewater.

FAO’s aquaponics pilot in the Gaza Strip comprised two phases – testing the approach in 2012 and then, in 2013 installing aquaponic systems for food insecure, poor and predominantly female-headed households.

 

 

 

 

 

Context

Food production in the Gaza Strip is constrained by an arid environment and limited access to steady sources of water. This threatens the food security and nutrition of local communities, which is further undermined by a wider context of protracted crisis and continued restricted access to critical livelihood resources for fishing and farming.

Objective

Installing aquaponic systems for increased food security of poor and predominantly female-headed households.

Key Interventions

Farm level:

  • Installation of Aquaponics using the symbiosis of fish and plant production.
  • Introduce an aquaponic system, using simple and locally available materials including plastic containers, gravel, pumps and plumbing

Regional/national Level:

  • Identified locations and communities that would benefit most from aquaponic systems based on needs assessment
  • Provide education and training programmes to develop farmers’ technical capacity
  • Introduce and support aquaponics to households and establish demonstration units

Lessons Learned/challenges

A factor to success is to establish aquaponics where there is consistent electricity and access to plant seeds and fish.

The project was initially successful, enabling the participants to grow food. Women particularly benefited as the method enabled them to work within their homes. However, the pilot intervention were designed to assist the most vulnerable urban families with minimal farming experience first. After the initial provision of inputs however, many of the participating households lacked the resources to continue purchasing inputs, as well as the farming knowledge and experience to ensure satisfactory performance of the system.

Overall, the experience in the Gaza Strip highlights the potential of the system as an agroecological approach for special conditions and proofs its technical feasibility. However, one lesson learnt is also that the social conditions and some champion actors are key. It is important to include families who have the means and farming expertise to ensure profitability and sustainability of the aquaponics within the local context and then share their expertise.

Relevant Links & references

 

 

 

FARMER – RESEARCHER PARTNERSHIP, SANTA CRUZ, CALIFORNIA

Field, Research

Category:

Location/Scale:

Santa Cruz, California (Subnational)

Implementing Organisation:

University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC) – Agroecology Program

Period:

1988 – now

In a nutshell

This example is documenting how strawberry monocultures turned into sustainable agroecosystems through a 30-year farmer-researcher partnership.

It all started with a research partnership between a farmer and a researcher for agroecological transition of the conventional monoculture strawberry production. Step by step, changes and improvements of the practices, thereby proofing the feasibility in the field, has been a successful approach to drive a sustainability transformation. Through adoption of the practices by other farmers and companies in the region and an increased consumer awareness, organic production has scaled up, leading to an 8-fold increase of organic strawberry production between 1997 and 2016. At the later stage of the transformation also direct marketing was a key to success to provide market incentives for the farmers.

 

 

 

Context

Monterey and Santa Cruz counties account for about half of the total California strawberry crop, producing more than $953 million worth of strawberries on 13,063 acres in 2016. Strawberry production has traditionally been done in a very conventional, water and chemical input intensive way. In 2017, a key fumigant, MeBR, was nationally banned, increasing the demand for and transformation to sustainable alternatives.

Objective

The main goal was to redesign traditional large-scale monoculture strawberry production systems into an agroecological system through a researcher-farmer partnership by starting on one model farm and subsequent scaling improvements step-by-step and upscaling.

Key Interventions/Research

Farm level:

  • Stepwise input substitution
  • Model farm through farmer-researcher partnership
  • «push-pull» pest management techniques
  • Sophisticated crop rotations, intercropping
  • Comprehensive, system-wide redesign that nurtures complexity and diversity

Regional/national Level:

  • Provision of access to research to solve upcoming challenges in the field (research-partnership)
  • Alternative network for direct sales

Lessons Learned/challenges

This example of a larger scale transformation of strawberry monocultures is indicating that with sufficient resources, time and support from (participatory) research, transformations of a system in a very sceptical setting- the approach was considered radical – is possible.

To provide a price incentive and compensate the higher labour costs, decreased input costs and a direct sales system were also a key success factor to support this transition

The challenges for the future are mainly environmental ones such as soil erosion, nutrient leaching, groundwater depletion and saltwater intrusion.

Relevant Links & references

CLIMATE-RESILIENT “ECOVILLAGE” in Chololo, tanzania

Climate, Field

Category:

Location/Scale:

Tanzania (Local)

Implementing Organisation:

Institute of Rural Development Planning (IRDP)

Period:

2011 – Now

In a nutshell

The Chololo Ecovillage project adopted a holistic approach to meeting the multiple challenges communities face the in the context of climate change

Building on local knowledge, traditional practices and natural resources, it revolved around a package of agroecological practices or ‘technologies’, aimed at making the most of the limited rainfall, improving soil fertility, reducing farmers’ workload, and improving the quality of local seeds.

The project took a participatory approach from the assessment of climate vulnerability and capacity to knowledge generation and dissemination.

The second phase of the project is focused on scaling out the approach to three more villages and involving local and national authorities to climate adaptation planning.

 

 

 

 

Context

Chololo village, located in the semi-arid drylands of Central Tanzania, faces challenges typical to this agro-pastoralist region: recurrent drought, food insecurity, and vulnerability to climate change. Some of the key issues identified by residents and the village committee range from increased drought frequency, deforestation, flooding and strong winds, to human diseases, livestock diseases, crop pests, and inadequate ground water recharge.

These problems were compounded by the traditional dependency on rain-fed agriculture, the use of simple farm implements (such as hand hoes), the unsustainable use of natural resources, a lack of enforcement of natural resource by-laws, and a lack of awareness of climate change. The Ecovillage project came at a time when the slash and burn model was nearing exhaustion.

Objective

The main goal of this project is to address climate vulnerabilities and create a model of good practice in climate adaptation, based on testing, evaluating and rolling out over 20 ecological ‘technologies’ in agriculture, livestock, water, energy, and forestry. It is also focuses on planning climate change strategies with local and national authorities.

Key Interventions

Farm level:

  • Package of agroecological practices, including manure-based increase of soil fertility and optimal planting schedules.
  • Livestock-specific interventions: introduction of improved breeds of cattle, goats and chickens & use of crop residues to feed livestock.
  • Community level interventions: improvements to water conservation features, such as contour ridges, grass strips and gully healing to capture rainwater and prevent soil erosion, sustainable forestry and agroforestry and water management
  • Creation of ‘technology groups’ for knowledge transfer and farmer-to-farmer outreach

Regional/national Level:

  • Building the capacity of the two local authorities to plan and implement climate change strategies
  • Knowledge management system to share the learnings on national level, through visits from national policymakers & involvement of local policymakers

Lessons Learned/challenges

In the eyes of participants and outside observers, the project was successful because of its multi-dimensionality. It has both a multi-sectoral focus (agriculture, livestock, water, energy, resources) and a multi-disciplinary project team (university, government, agricultural research institute, local authority & NGOs) for wide buy-in. Efforts were undertaken to ensure virtuous circles between the project and national policies, particularly around climate adaptation through a conscious alignment with national climate adaptation policy.

Relevant Links & references

 

 

Food Security & Sovereignty in Las Segovias, Nicaragua

Field, Research

Category:

Location/Scale:

Nicaragua (National)

Implementing Organisation:

CAN (Community Agroecology Network)

Period:

2009 – now

In a nutshell

The Food Security and Sovereignty in Las Segovias Project is a collaboration between CAN and PRODECOOP, a coffee farmer cooperative organization. The project aims to improve food security and reduce seasonal hunger among 1500 smallholder coffee farming families in Northern Nicaragua.

CAN engaged in a participatory planning process to define strategies based on recognized needs to establish year-round access to healthy food in participating rural communities.

One important pillar of this project are the corn storage and distribution centres (CADA). The CADAs help farmers to store their harvest centrally and use it in thin months for the whole community. A second pillar are the seven seed banks to provide farmers with quality seed (mainly corn and beans) all year long.  A third aspect is the diversification of farms especially with fruit trees, cassava, plantain and sweet potatoes, which has always been practiced in South America.

 

 

 

Context

In Nicaragua, seasonal hunger is one of the biggest challenges. Food insecurity has especially risen since the coffee-leave rust outbreak in 2011 and the start of a drought in 2014. Central America has seen a succession of droughts, hurricanes, and other hazards in the past decade and is likely to be hit by the threats of climate change in the future more often.

Nationwide, the prevalence of undernourishment dropped from 55% to 20% between 1990 and 2010 and several government assistance programs have expanded. Despite these gains, food insecurity remains a pressing challenge among many rural Nicaraguan smallholders.

Objective

The main goals of this project are improved food availability, access, and food utilization through CADAs, seed banks, farm diversification and experimentation, and organizational capacity building in order to reduce seasonal hunger and erase undernourishment among children.

Key Interventions

Farm level:

  • Distribution of fruit trees and different varieties of vegetables to enhance diversification
  • Metal silos have been distributed to improve grain storage methods and reduced rates of grain spoilage and loss

Regional/national Level:

  • Build food storage and distribution centres known as CADAs to mitigate hunger in thin months
  • Construction of seedbanks, which are operating and helping seed production, especially corn and beans, mitigating the impacts of harvest loss and responding to the farmers’ seed demand with efficiency and availability of quality seed
  • Training, research, dissemination, and ongoing farmer and promoter development

Lessons Learned/challenges

The Participation Action Research implemented by the project allowed to refine the set of strategies that are the most needed by farmers through constant feedback and reflexion on lessons learned. Four more strategies were added to the original three, such as increase household capacity and access to seed and rootstock production.

Another lesson is that the elimination of the thin months and reaching every single family, their cooperatives and communities is a slow process. The cumulative effects of multiple hazards remains the main challenge. For instance, the coffee leaf rust and other pests that has affected nearly all coffee farming families, adds up to the effect of drought.

There is also a need to promote strategies for the preservation of local and patrimonial varieties, especially in consideration of climate change adaptation and the lack of water.

Relevant Links & references

 

 

Push-Pull Project

Climate, Research

Category:

Location/Scale:

Kenya and other SSA countries (Regional)

Implementing Organisation:

Icipe (International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology)

Period:

2006 – now

In a nutshell

Push–pull is a polycropping innovation that provides integrated management of insect pests and soil fertility while making efficient use of natural resources to increase farm productivity by addressing most aspects of smallholders’ constraints. The technology involves intercropping cereal crops with legumes and planting forage grasses around this intercrop.

The conventional push-pull uses Napier grass as the border crop with silverleaf desmodium as the intercrop. The climate-adapted push-pull, however, uses the drought tolerant Brachiaria and Greenleaf Desmodium.

This technology exploits the fact that adult female insect pests rely on chemical stimuli (‘smell’) emitted by plants to select those for egg laying. The desmodium emits a substance that repels female stemborer moths (“push”) while the Napier grass releases attractive cues that ‘pull’ the moths towards itself.

Additionally, desmodium acts as weed control as it helps to deplete the striga grass.

 

 

Context

Cereals are the major food and cash crops for the majority of poor smallholders in Sub-Saharan-Africa (SSA), and together with livestock, provide the main source of nutrition and opportunities for income generation. Productivity of these crops is severely reduced by a complex of biotic constraints, such as stemborer pest complexes, fall armyworm and parasitic striga weeds, as well as abiotic factors, mainly water stress and degraded soils.

All this directly results in increased levels of food insecurity, malnutrition and poverty that are further complicated by high human population growth rates, environmental degradation and climate change.

Objective

Through mitigating the effects of stemborer, fall armyworm and striga grass, Push-Pull seeks to increase cereal yield for smallholder farmers. Thus, enabling them to decrease the cost of external inputs, such as fertilizers or pesticides, and generate additional income through selling the Napier grass as fodder or use it to feed own livestock.

Key Interventions/Research

Farm level:

  • Planting of desmodium between the maize to repel the stemborer and striga grass
  • Planting napiergrass around the maize field to attract the stemborer and use of grass residues for livestock fodder.

Regional/national Level:

  • Organisation of field days to inform a lot of farmers about the most important principles
  • Farmer teachers and farmer field schools are used in later stages to reinforce the message

Lessons Learned/challenges

So far, a limiting factor has been the shortage of high quality desmodium seeds. In order to scale-up, a constant seed supply chain for all farmers must be established. Secondly, the Napier stunt disease has caused some troubles and is threatening the successful application of Push-Pull. Finally, climate change is presenting more and more problems for agriculture, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, where Push-Pull is mainly used. Therefore, a climate resilient variation of the push-pull approach was designed and tested now.

Relevant Links & references