Ashraf A-S GODA, Mohamed A. ESSA, Mohamed S. HASSAN, Zaki SHARAWY

Bio Economic Features for Aquaponic Systems in Egypt

In aquaponic systems, plants treat the water by removing the nitrogen and phosphorus resulting from the fish farm and utilize it for growth as fertilizers so it is recycled rather than being discharged and polluting the environment; to minimize adverse impact of aquaculture to the environment. In the present study, two systems were investigated using Renewable Energy System for sustainability point of view: 1) Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture, IMTA- Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) System.2) IMTA- Floating Raft System (FRS) in comparison with traditional soil culture system. The study aims to highlight some of the technical, biological, social, and economic features of aquaponic systems in Egypt. Results showed that IMTA-FRS and IMTA-NFT systems achieved best average net income and thus were able to cover costs and achieve economic surplus capacity of 53% and 47% respectively. The ability of these two systems to withstand the burden of increased costs of production circumstances or take the risk of falling prices of fish and vegetables (risk reduction) was confirmed by the results. However, IMTA-FRS can be considered as a successes aquaponic model, that the period of recovery of invested capital less (2.17 vs. 3.34 year). Our aim was to conduct the system as a small-scale business unit providing opportunity for youth projects as it represents a national challenge for developing countries

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