LAHORE: Pakistan-China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCJCCI) on Wednesday 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 that 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.
Other advantages include no weeds, fewer pests, and no watering, fertilizing, bending, digging, or heavy lifting, he added.
On this occasion, the PCJCCI Vice President Ahmed Hasnsain explicated that Chinese model of latest soil-free and roof-top farming technology of Aquaponics facilitated Pakistan with an opportunity not only to return a level of personal or household food production to cities but also create a viable commercial urban farming sector.
While, PCJCCI General Secretary Salahuddin Hanif said that rapid rise in seafood demand in developed countries gave Pakistan an opportunity to expand and improve fish farming techniques and aquaculture practices in order to earn more foreign exchange.
Modernizing fish farming techniques would be very beneficial for Pakistan along with net trade income from other agricultural commodities like coffee, rubber, corn, soya bean, he said and asserted that currently nearly 500,000 people were directly engaged in fishing in Pakistan and another 600,000 in the ancillary industries.
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