The Human Help Network Foundation Thailand won first prize in a global contest sponsored by Johnson & Johnson Co. for its aquaponics project.
Speaking at the HHNFT’s annual general meeting March 18 at the Child Protection and Development Center, foundation Deputy Director Siromes Akarapongpanich said organizations from 84 countries had entered the contest.
Aquaponics is similar to hydroponics in that it’s a method of growing plants –- in this case vegetables – in a soil-free environment. However, while hydroponics uses only water, aquaponics balances water, aquatic life, bacteria, nutrient dynamics and plants.
The key is fish: Aquaponics exchanges the waste by-product from fish as a food for bacteria, which is then converted into a fertilizer for the plants which, in turn, restore the water to a clean environment to the fish.
The project is just part of the HHNFT’s overall “sufficiency economy” program inspired by the teachings of the late King Rama IX. Children are taught to grow vegetables, tend a mushroom farm, engage in the husbandry of fish, ducks, chickens, crickets and pigs, and more.
