Since 2016, Pune-based Sameer has been growing vegetables using aquaponics, and has experimented with different kinds of fish to refine his technique. He has regular customers in his neighborhood who buy fresh produce from him.
In 2016, Sameer A, an IT professional and avid reader, came across an aquaponics book. Intrigued by the concept of this farming method, the 38-year-old decided to try it out himself. “The thought of growing food without soil and some fish in water was fascinating to me,” says Sameer, a Pune-based engineer who spent over a decade working in software companies and as an entrepreneur. He adds, “I went to a nursery to buy some mint, and try aquaponics out.”
To experiment with the concepts described in the book, he took two buckets lying in the corner of the roof of his bungalow, installed a water pump, and bought some pipes and some fish. After a week of planting mint in this set-up, Sameer found his efforts to be successful when fresh leaves began sprouting. “This is how the concert of ‘bucketponics’ came into being,” he says.
“The quick growth of the plant, the big and bright green leaves, and the smell of the produce were impressive,” Sameer says. “The book mentioned that fish excreta in water worked as a source of ammonia and nitrate, which are essential elements for plants to grow. This was proved right in my experiment,” he adds. From growing one mint plant, the urban farmer has gone on to cultivate 63 varieties of vegetables on his terrace farm through aquaponics, including spinach, tomato, cucumber, rice, corn, stevia and gourd.
Read more at The Better India (H. Nitnaware)