Pakistan-China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCJCCI) on Sunday suggested to follow Chinese roof-top farming technology named ‘Aquaponics’ to overcome food shortage, water crisis, excessive use of pesticides and expensive fertilizers.
Addressing a meeting of the joint chamber’s think-tank here, the PCJCCI President Shah Faisal Afridi said Aquaponics was a technique that harvest both fish and vegetables, using the waste from the fish to feed the plants and the plants to clean the water for the fish. By combining the fish, water and plants, Aquaponics system used an integrated environment to produce vegetables and fish in a very small space, with very little water, he explained.
He added that Aquaponics was being explored by China for several decades as a possible solution to the foregoing environmental energy, and food shortage problems. The technique was capable of producing around 5000 kg of vegetables and 500 kg of fish per year by utilizing limited space, he said and informed the meeting that Aquaponics systems were much more productive by using up to 90 per cent less water than conventional gardens
