Urban farmers grow fish and greens together with aquaponics

It's a mutually beneficial relationship: Fish waste provides food for the plants, and the plants keep the water clean for the fish. Photos: The Star/Azlina Abdullah

To avoid chemical-laden vegetables in their diet, urban farmers are opting for another method of organic farming – aquaponics. The method is a marriage of aquaculture and hydroponics (soil-less growing of plants) – fish are reared in tanks, their wastewater provides food for growing plants, and the plants act as a natural filter for the water which the fish live in. So fish and plants grow together in one integrated system.

One aquaponics enthusiast is aircraft maintenance training instructor Affnan Ramli. For the past eight years, his home has been an experimenting ground for the green farming method; he hopes to develop a system that suits Malaysian homes and environment.