Farming without soil in Zimbabwe

A cricketer turns his again on the joy of professional sports activities to tackle a complete new problem: farming without soil.

Yasser Parker thought he had fulfilled his childhood dream by turning into an expert cricket participant. He loved his days in entrance of the crowds, taking part in a sport that even took him abroad. Then, seven years into his chosen profession, the longer term started to look much less rosy.

“In my final year, I went to the UK to play a season at Stratford-upon-Avon cricket club; that is when it dawned on me that financially, I was not going to be able to get where I want to be,” 30-year-old Parker recalled.

It was time for a brand new problem.

A go-to to a modest three-acre plot in Marondera, a farming city 90 kilometres from Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, at this time reveals a brand new, thriving, operation and a very completely different life. Parker’s answer to his drawback? Aquaponics.

Aquaponics is a mix of fish farming (aquaculture) and hydroponics, a farming methodology the place vegetation are grown without soil.

“We bring together fish farming and hydroponics. We use fish waste to grow our plants,” Parker defined as he confirmed off his operation: “Another way to look at it is that the fish produce fertiliser for our plants, and our plants purify the water for the fish; it is a symbiotic relationship,” he added.

For Parker, the journey from cricket to turning into one of many first farmers to experiment with aquaponics is a case of sheer coincidence and curiosity: “ I did my high school at Prince Edward High School in Harare but did not do so well; I managed to pass four O-level subjects, maths not included,” Parker stated. In Zimbabwe, 5 Ordinary-level topics are thought-about the suitable minimal for tutorial development. “I moved to Prestige to try and pass five O-Levels which I didn’t get,” he continued.

“My mother gave me a choice, she wanted me to go to Gwebi Agricultural College, but I decided to take up cricket,” Parker added.

Having hit a wall in his cricketing profession, Parker returned to Zimbabwe without a transparent plan of how he was to proceed.

“I sat around for about six months to figure out what I wanted to do; I did a carpentry course at Harare Polytechnic College and eventually settled for farming,” Parker defined.

Parker was initially drawn to fish farming however data that he discovered on the web impressed a special thought.

“We were supposed to do fish farming on this plot, but one day I was on YouTube and stumbled upon aquaponics. I did research and realised that this is something I could do – and started the setup,” Parker stated.

“Finances at the time were a bit tough, although three weeks into our development, some investors came and supported the project,” he added.

Without a background in farming, aquaponics for Parker really represented a less complicated choice than common farming. From his analysis he realised that profitable conventional farming required coming to phrases with advanced points just like the soil evaluation, irrigation, fertilisers and weed management required in common farming. That was if he might discover sufficient land. And then, there have been dangers as a result of climate circumstances, particularly without entry to a water supply for irrigation.

Aquaponics, although dearer to finance initially, supplied a solution to lots of these issues.

“You can set it up anywhere, and it can be any size – from something for home use in your backyard of 40 square metres to something you see here, of 2,500 square metres. You can grow anything you need to survive in terms of fresh produce and protein. Fresh produce being the plants and protein coming from the fish,” Parker defined.

Zimbabwe’s small-scale farmers have lengthy confronted challenges as a result of rain-fed type of agriculture they pursue and this season, many farmers have been left counting losses as a result of an erratic wet season. Parker believes if these challenges persist, aquaponics might be thought-about an answer.

“In terms of sustainability, we use 90% less water; all the water in the system is recycled,” he stated.

“We don’t have to dump any water at any time; the only water that we lose is through transpiration and evaporation. It is very different from your conventional farming methods with the soil,” he added.

Parker has just one everlasting worker at his operation. He solely employs informal employees in the course of the harvest season.

“The day typically starts at 5:30; I scout to make sure plants aren’t getting attacked by pests or diseases. After that, I take readings of the PH and temperature water parameters,” Parker stated.

Regular exams in water high quality are designed to make sure the circumstances – or water parameters – stay conducive for fish farming. Variables checked embrace temperature, dissolved oxygen, alkalinity, hardness, ammonia, and nitrates. While hardness and alkalinity don’t change repeatedly, oxygen and PH fluctuate and need to be periodically checked; failure to take action may end up in the fish dying.

The fish are fed twice a day, from 6 am to 10 am, then between 4 pm and 5.30 pm in the late afternoon. Explaining the method, Parker stated the aquaponics system combines a fish farm and a horticulture farm, with water being the connecting aspect. The water that gives habitat to the fish turns into wealthy in vitamins over time from waste excreted by the fish; that water is then fed to the horticulture facet, the place the crops survive solely on the residue water – without soil.

As vegetation take up vitamins by way of pure organic filtration, they clear the water, and it’s fed again to the fish in a cyclical method. The vegetation depend on the fish to provide waste, whereas the fish want the vegetation to purify the water.

Periodically, there’s a cleansing course of which is completed to filter out the waste that vegetation would have failed to soak up. “ We drain our filters once a week and send them into a mineralisation tank, where we feed the naturally occurring bacterias with molasses and the bacteria break down that solid fish waste, and it is an enriched fertiliser back in the system,” Parker defined.

According to Parker, even when he’s given a extra vital piece of land than he at the moment occupies, soil farming is out of the query as a result of aquaponics is extra productive and environmentally pleasant.

“I was attracted to the sustainability aspect; I have been following the global crisis since I was young. We are ten times more productive per square metre using this type of farming than farming in the soil,” Parker stated.

“For example, per acre, we will grow 120,000 heads of lettuce ten times a year and come up with 1.2 million heads of lettuce; whereas, in the soil, from what I have read and what I have been told, you are doing 40,000 per acre and you are harvesting three times a year. It was a no-brainer,” he provides.

Parker, who claims he’s the primary to arrange a semi-commercial aquaponics operation in Zimbabwe, admits that the fee outlay might be limiting for some until there are traders.

“If you are going to be setting up a hectare, it can be from 400,000 dollars to 1.6 million, depending on how high-tech you want to go.”

According to Parker, the great thing about greenhouse farming is that one can mechanise and automate nearly all the things. One can go as automated as putting in temperature and humidity sensors and automatic computer systems to manage one’s greenhouse with the contact of a cellphone or pc key.

Though he at the moment runs a “fairly basic” setup, Parker hopes to improve his methods to the purpose the place he can management all the things remotely, regardless that he has quite a lot of crops.

“We have planted eggplants, lettuce, chillies, and okra, and so far, everything has grown well; the end goal is to tap into the export market,” Parker stated.

“It is a difficult process; this is something new to Zimbabwe; this has turned into a pilot project. Once we are ready, we will invite investors to the field days and see if anybody is willing to part ways with a decent amount of money into the operation,” he added.

Parker provides the native market in Marondera and surrounding communities together with his produce. He additionally hopes to recruit extra folks into aquaponics.

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