Hi Michael J, really liked what you suggested in [i] and [ii] below.
I'm an electronics engineer in my day job and a horticulturist [nooby] in my freetime. I got interested in horticulture mainly due to the food crisis reason as you said.
As this thread is lively and participated by quite a few experts like yourself, I would like to post some questions about Aquaponics business here in KL Malaysia.:
a. Do we need a certification / license / permit to sell the vegetable produce of such farming technique?
b. Do we need license / permit if we farm Tilapia and sell it in such technique? What if these farmed fishes are only for self-consumption / donation?
c. Do we need license / permit if such farm is in upper floors of shoplots?
d. Are there potential in such farming technique, especially economically?
e. What are the complications / consequences of such farming technique?
Those are the questions that I can think of, appreciate any sifu here to share answers or other insights / opinions.
Many thanks.
QUOTE(Michael J. @ Aug 23 2012, 04:09 PM)
Added on August 23, 2012, 5:24 pmIt's really scary to read about the looming food crisis... I guess it is understandable why so many people are turning to crime and illegal activities. Obviously, that does not mean it is justified.
But seriously, the percentage of people not being able to afford food in developed countries is on the rise. Just taking the United States of America as example, about 18.2% people there are not able to afford the food they need. I'm not talking about hardcore poor here, although they certainly make up a significant portion of that figure; the figure includes families from middle-class, fixed-income groups.
To put this into perspective, 1 in 4 people in the US cannot afford the food they need. The food they need to survive does not include bread, cheeses, fresh fruits etc., but staples like grains/cereals, milk, vegetables, etc. And the No. 1 thing most from this group can't afford is: Meat.
Yes, meats like beef, mutton, fish, chicken, etc. They cannot afford it anymore.
Is this a good or bad thing? Bear in mind, this is only the US we're talking about here; we haven't even begun looking at the EU, or Latin America, or even Asia.
And the news just gets worse. 2 in every 100 Chinese citizen cannot find a job. This may not look bad, after all it's like only 2%. But bear in mind, China has a working-age population of nearly 660,000,000; so that works up to 26,000,000 people. That means 26 million people who are competiting with the rest of the world for jobs.
We all know that without a stable income source, it is quite difficult to gain ends meet. Which makes the food crisis problem all the more dangerous. Less food available equals to higher food costs, which could lead to many other undesirable effects within society.
Let us open up this thread for discussion. Does anyone have any genuine idea of how to mitigate this problem? No need to find a solution which works on a global/national scale; even a solution that would result in a reduced household food bill would have a tremendous impact on society.
My first suggestion(s):
i. Home growing - To educate people to grow their own food in their homes. And not just simple container growing for novelty sake. I do mean growing sufficient veg and animal proteins to offset about 10%-15% of the monthly family food bill at least.
ii. Community farm plots - Where a group of people pool their resources and time to tend a shared plot of land used to grow vegetables/fruits/animal protein for the group. All members will have to contribute their inputs, and not just monetary, but most crucially the time and labor needed. Community farm plots should ideally off-set about 20%-25% of the family food bill each month.
iii.
Aug 29 2012, 06:46 PM
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