Due to increasing population in Indonesia, land for agriculture and fisheries business is getting narrow and it becomes an obstacle in establishing a business. The development of community knowledge, increasing population, and increasing welfare lead to more need for food, especially freshwater fish and vegetables. The market demand is high while the land for business is getting narrower. One of the efforts to overcome it is the aquaponics system which is a new innovation in the field of fisheries and agriculture.
Aquaponics is a combination of aquaculture and hydroponics which results in a symbiotic mutualism or mutual benefit. The aquaponics system in the process of using water from fish ponds, then it is recirculated through a pipe where plants will be grown. If left in a pond, water will actually be poisonous to the fish in it. Nitrifying bacteria change fish waste as nutrients that can be used by plants. Then this plant will function as a vegetation filter, which will reduce these toxic substances into substances that are not harmful to fish. So this is a win-win cycle. Through the aquaponics system, plants do not need to be watered every day manually, because the pooled water is pumped upward so that it can water the plants and the timer can be added so we can determine the watering time as desired. We only need to feed the fish ponds. The advantage of the aquaponics system for the pond and the fish is the cleanliness of the water, the water does not contain substances that are harmful to fish because it has gone through a filtration process. The vegetables also get nutrition or food from fish droppings.
Seeing the existence of a profitable business opportunity with limited land, it can be a potential business in agriculture and fisheries. Many people interested, but they mostly do not dare to implement it. Its business feasibility and cost efficiency should be studied. The feasibility study will be used as a guideline for the community to make decisions.
Author: Evania Haris Chandra, Master student of Veterinary Agribusiness Master Program, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine UNAIR
