Dear All,
Me and a couple of my friends have recently been quite interested in the idea of starting an aquaponics farm on a commercial scale.
Since we have no prior experience in this field, we were thinking of starting on a small scale (within 200 sq. mtrs. land) and then learn the whole process. Can someone please advise whether this idea is feasible.
Thanks
Hi everyone,
Maybe I should be more detailed in my description of our background and what we plan on doing:
I myself am a Mechanical engineer working in Qatar. One of my friend’s is working in Dubai as a fitness instructor and the other friend is currently unemployed. We have been thinking about starting a business from a few years ago and have always had our minds set on farming. We realize that some people are very good at farming and run at a good profit and some end up losing their investment. We know that it will take a lot of hard work and manual labour by ourselves to do this and are willing to do so, because we like many other qualified people feel like we are losing the meaning of life working in Corporate environments. Though we have no knowledge of agriculture, we are willing to work hard, learn from experienced people like most of the members here and establish ourselves slowly but steadily. I personally am against the use of conventional pesticides and fertilizers and feel ZBNF and organic methodology of farming is a better and more environmentally safe option. Due to this we are interested in ZBNF, Organic and aquaponic techniques for farming. Please note that we have no working knowledge of these methods whatsoever and whatever we do know is gained from the discussions on forums such as this.
Now regarding the idea, we have 25 cents of land available which is currently being used for conventional paddy cultivation. We plan on using around 15 cents for aquaponics farming. We intend to grow tilapia for the aquatic component and Lettuce as a start since the grow period (if I am right) is about 6 weeks). However, I haven’t been able to work out the total Capital required, running costs and returns on that investment, or even breakeven period. We require the guidance of experienced members here to find out whether this is a practical idea or whether we should do another method of farming on this land. We are even open to dairy farming but due to the lack of land area we understand that dairy farming is not an option at the moment.
Looking forward to some good advice.
Thank you everyone.
Hi,
I am from kochi and am also in a similar situation like you have mentioned.
However i have been doing some backyard AP at my home for past 6 months and now very much looking forward to start a small commercial unit.
I have done some fair amount of self-study (at-least to my confidence) in the field of Natural farming, ZNBF and AP for some time now and would like to venture out into some kind of farming for a start.
So may be we can team up and work together for a common goal, if you like it…
Pls let know your thoughts…
Btw, at present i’m looking for a plot nearby for starting an AP unit…
Hi Earthbound,
Sorry for the extremely late reply, I just saw your reply on my post since I have not checked it for a while.
I am currently working out of the country and have put my plan on hold for now. However, if you are still looking for land to start an AP unit, I have a plot in Kollam which is around 21 cents. There is an old tiled house at the centre of the property but plenty of area for an AP unit.
I would be very much interested in teaming up in the near future since I am also quite interested in ZBNF & permaculture too. 
Please do email me at shawng30@gmail.com since I am unable to check this site too frequently.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Regards