Challenges in achieving an economically sustainable aquaponic system: a review

Aquaponics, a combination of aquaculture and hydroponics, is a potential solution for the consequences of global warming and eventual food meagreness. Aquaponics is known to be an efficient method to deal with the wastewater problem associated with aquaculture and nutrient management issues in the hydroponic discipline. However, optimizing the process condition for aquaponics is frequently ambiguous and is often not economically feasible. Farmers face many constraints in maintaining the process. The main reason for this could be the limited scientific knowledge of various aspects of aquaponics. Through this review, we would like to put a limelight on various critical concerns that could be problematic to beginners in aquaponic farming. These could be from choosing the appropriate design of the system to thriving plants free of diseases. Henceforth, we identified research opportunities that have the potential to fill scientific gaps in this field. Our findings suggest that aquaponics could emerge as the future of agriculture if the discussed challenges are addressed appropriately.

Automated summary

Aquaponics, a combination of aquaculture and hydroponics, is a potential solution to global warming and food scarcity. However, there are challenges in optimizing the process and limited scientific knowledge in this field. This review highlights critical concerns for beginners in aquaponic farming and identifies research opportunities to fill scientific gaps.