Aquaponics in Malaysia is gaining strength as an alternative method of soilless cultivation. Some common crops that Malaysians grow are chives, Chinese cabbage, peppers, lettuce, bitter gourd, ginger, mangoes and even edamame and Japanese rock melons.
At the local level, the business landscape of aquaponics is more centered regarding the provider of things and training on how to install aquaponics in your home.
To help assess the growing demand for aquaponics, Dr. Richard shared with Vulcan Post that they were able to set up 60 farm units in Malaysia and abroad in countries like Singapore, Indonesia, Brunei, Japan, Slovenia and the United States since inception 2 years ago.
But getting to where they are today requires an initial investment of RM300K for research along with continuous failures for 10 months. “So far, we have invested more than 1.5 million RM over the past 24 months in hardware development and continuous investment,” he revealed.
Not much research has been done on the profitability of commercial aquaponics abroad, let alone locally. The general consensus is that profitability will only be achieved when operations are at on a large scale. For urban farmers, space can be a limitation.
Despite this, it remains a solution with environmental and cost advantages to ensure food security. This is because global food production is already facing countless problems such as climate change, urbanization and more, making controlled and more efficient agricultural methods of aquaponics (and hydroponics) be a welcome solution.
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