Samaki

Short description

Self-Sustaining Fish Farm Installation against Hunger!


Which problem do I/we aim to solve ‐ and why?

“Hunger is the biggest health risk worldwide” – WFP

More than 10 percent of the world’s population suffers from hunger. Especially people in Africa – women and children in rural areas – are affected. High food prices and insufficient food supply are reasons for the inadequate nutrition. Climate fluctuations, soil infertility and locust swarms cause crop losses. 8.8 billion people die annually as a result of hunger.

“Hunger is the biggest solvable problem of the world.” – WFP

An improved and healthy diet is the cornerstone to help people in developing countries. It enables children and young people’s healthy development. It enables adults to higher labor productivity. It allows the people to have a better, prosperous future.


My/Our idea for a solution

In order to solve the problem of malnutrition, our concept is based on increasing and improving the food supply. The key to this is a self-sustaining fish farm installation.

This concept was developed and tested at the university RWTH Aachen. It is based on the principle of a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS). Fish of the genus Tilapia are cultured in a fish tank.

The tank is connected to a biological filter system and a sump, through which all pollutants are filtered out. Our filter consists among other things of sand, activated carbon and a mosquito net – materials that are locally available at low cost. A solar system of solar panels, charge controller and battery provides enough power to operate the pump. Thereby a continuous circulation of the water is ensured. Depending on the size of the installation, an entire village can be supplied and consequently improve the nutritional status.


Why is my/our solution an innovative idea and tackles the challenge from a new perspective

Our fish farm installation particularly excels in criteria where many other ideas fail: climate and environmental factors.

The construction of the installation is ideally adapted to the local drawbacks. It can even be built in arid territory without accessibility of running water. Powered through solar energy, the farm does not need a connection to the power supply system. Also the fish, a species of the genus Tilapia, is suitable for robust conditions and generally known as “pig under water”. Thus, food waste and plant leaves can be used.


How is my/our idea feasible?

Our fish farm installation was already tested last year (2015) during a project implementation in Tanzania and proved to be successful. With the experience gained there, we were able to improve our installation so that now a larger and more efficient system is ready for use. Together with new partners, we want to build our installations in target areas, and convey our knowledge to the people.

Which methods and channels do I/we want to utilise?

In order to explain the structure and especially the operation of our farm as simple and comprehensible as possible, we have created a manual and business lessons. The manual includes topics such as construction or maintenance, the business lessons impart a simple understanding of supply and demand as well as the appreciation of such a farm. Additional workshops and leaflets shall ensure a greater interest and spread of our farm.

What’s my/our expected outcome and improvement?

Step by step we want to improve the world: In the short term, we hope for a successful development of our farm. We want to give people an understanding of how they can provide a more nutritious diet to themselves and their families. In the medium term our system shall spread through word-of-mouth recommendations, leaflets and our workshops – more and more people shall benefit from our concept! So that we hope to reduce world hunger through our fish farm installations in the long term. The success of our project is measured among other things by the number of constructed farms.

What's my/our budget and which partners I/we would expect to be valuable

To successfully implement our project we are looking for partners who can establish and attend to the farms on-site together with us. Additionally offered workshops as well as training centers would be ideal to convey our idea and concept.

With a budget of € 15,000 it would be possible for us to provide 20 villages with farm installations and to improve the people’s quality of life!

Samaki

Team: Gang Lu

Leave a Reply

By continuing to use this site, you agree to the use of cookies. Further Information

We use cookies. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you agree to this. You can delete our cookies. How this works is explained in our privacy policy.

Close