The Cause

The sustainability of an aquaponic project is found in its market opportunity and its ability to provide consistent high quality and all organic produce by combining fish farming with off-soil (hydroponic) gardening.

Recently, new and emerging technology such as open source hardware, 3D printing and combined with the availability of teaching resources makes aquaponics an ideal solution for remote communities that need solutions that can be scaled and replicated.

With the primary challenge for many rural and urban farmers being their access to high quality soils and water year around, aquaponics can genuinely help turn significant challenges into equally significant opportunities.

While typically labor intensive, this system re-circulates water in a closed loop, and as such, this technology thrives in areas with  high unemployment, limited arable land, and water scarcity.

Whether in an urban setting, or in rural Cambodia where an unforgiving dry season makes water unavailable for six month of the year, aquaponics have the potential off putting people to work and help farmers plant the seeds of a healthier tomorrow, in Cambodia and beyond.

Our Work

Since 2008, Community First has been involved in various agricultural programs that called for different techniques and approaches. As a result, a strong tradition of all organic techniques for crop protection and fertilizing has endured in our programs.

The 4 million tourist a year hospitality market in Cambodia calls for several millions of tons of fresh produce a month. And while the conventional techniques Community First used in the past were successful and highly replicable, the home gardens and family fish ponds could not scale to the demand’s requirements.

The answer was to be found in the technology of today which enables us to connect fish farming and vegetable gardening through hydroponics.

Thanks to our Partners at the Engineering Department of California State University Los Angeles, the technology was brought by a group of dedicated changemakers. But interestingly enough, the inspiration for bringing fish and crops together in order to help Cambodians thrive as a community was found on the very walls of the temples they build hundreds of year ago.

 

What you can do

CONNECT, GIVE

$750 will help a family start an aquaponic farm which will help them fund medical expenses and reclaim their health

$10 will fund a gardener’s fish stock

$5 will fund a gardener’s seed stock

CONNECT, INVOLVE
Your school or educational institutions with the forgotten communities of rural Cambodia by learning about and developing aquaponics technologies