South Africa is ranked 30th driest country in the world, with a high risk of water and food insecurity. This is according to a statement given by the Water Research Commission. Dr Christien Engelbrecht from the South African Weather Service added substance to the finding. Reporting that the 2025 winter season started with warmer than normal conditions over the winter rainfall area. Adding that by July, the interior had started experiencing warmer than usual conditions. It is a worrying phenomenon when weighed against the World Economic Forum’s White Paper on Harnessing Digital Technologies for Smarter Water Management in Agriculture, published in June 2025. Which states that 2.2 Billion people lack access to safe drinking water. By 2030, 700 million people might have to relocate from potentially water stressed climates. In areas with limited access to arable land or clean water, aquaponics presents sufficient capacity as a reliable and investment worthy food production method, says Neale Strauch, a systems engineer at Urban Aquaponics.
Aquaponics and water resilience farming
Neale defines aquaponics as a system of aquaculture in which the waste produced by farmed fish or other aquatic creatures supplies the nutrients for plants to grow hydroponically, which in turn purifies the water. Upholding the innovation for its ability to produce food without the necessary use of fertilisers, insecticides or pesticides, as it has bacteria that changes the ammonia into nitrites, which is then absorbed by the plants. INMED South Africa director, Unathi Sihlahla, has spearheaded the mission to introduce this innovation as an anchor of hope in food insecure communities. Sihlahla explains how season after season, they would witness farmers prepare their fields and wait, only to be disappointed by insufficient rainfall. He watched them absorb the disaster, as they stood helplessly in front of stunted crops and poor harvests. None of them realising that what they were experiencing was the frontline of climate change. “Seeing that heartbreak repeat itself convinced us that we needed a different pathway, one that doesn’t depend on rainfall but uses water wisely. A solution that can produce food consistently for families and local markets,” says Sihlahla.
Innovating water resources
“Aquaponics offered a way to turn limited water into abundant vegetables and fish, to protect livelihoods, and to show farmers that they are not victims of climate change. They can adapt and thrive in spite of it,” he adds. He highlights the importance of attaching the appropriate meaning to this innovation and what it symbolises for the modernisation of agriculture. Signaling that aquaponic agriculture is a powerful tool of empowerment, if it is backed by an enterprising will and industrialised intent, in its integration into under-served communities. Eastern Cape based farmer, Gugulethu Mahlangu is rethinking water-resilience in the most innovative way. She runs a recirculating aquaponics system to irrigate her farm. It helps her save up to 90% of water, as the water recycles itself. Any drop of water that escapes is not lost due to the humidity in the greenhouse. Instead, it becomes plant transpiration. She has a water reservoir to store water to help support the aquaponics irrigation system. Her well run systems typically top up only 1–3% of system volume per day, even during heat-intense seasons. That equates to thousands of liters of water saved compared to traditional irrigation,” says Mahlangu. “I transitioned from conventional soil spinach farming, into aquaponics after witnessing how much water I could save and how consistent the production was, even during heatwaves or erratic seasons,” says Mahlangu. She admits that it felt fitting even though it is a relatively new food production method and new way of farming that is appropriate for her community. She realised very quickly that if she wanted to build something climate resilient, water smart, and scalable in South Africa, aquaponics should be at the centre of it.
Climate change impacts food security
Insights gathered through INMED South Africa, compiled as a report called NGO Nexus, suggest that 2.5 million South Africans experience hunger everyday. 59.2 % of children are living below the upper-bound poverty line. Indicating that 1 in 5 South Africans is living in extreme poverty. The organisation has been instrumental in using aquaponics as means to introduce small-scale farmers and households to agri-aquaculture, through the ASE model designed to address food and water security in vulnerable communities. Sihlahla highlights that the innovation is a pathway to dignity, income and skills. “It uses less water than conventional farming, and can be done on small plots of land. It opens opportunities in places where traditional agriculture is no longer viable due to drought, poor soil conditions or lack of space,” says Sihlahla. “Positioned correctly, an aquaponics unit, is a community asset. That reliably produces nutritious food, creates jobs in production and processing, and serves as a live classroom for youth and women to learn practical skills. From climate-smart agriculture and basic biology, to bookkeeping, digital skills and entrepreneurship,” he adds. Being at the fore-front of the climate challenge alongside farmers means Sihlahla is perfectly positioned to observe the direct impact of unpredictable climates. The report by INMED South Africa, stipulates that rising temperatures impact crop yield, and fluctuating weather patterns make the growing season longer, which is not good for temperature sensitive crops like rice and wheat. Changes in water temperature has a similar effect in fisheries, depleting fish populations, affecting coastal livelihoods as they are reliant on fish farming.
Curbing malnutrition and hunger
INMED South Africa leverages its network, which includes instruments like the Social Employment Fund, managed by the Industrial Development Corporation, to encourage effective strategies amongst NGOs and community based organisations to drive positive change in order to tackle water and food insecurity. Strauch is a foot soldier for the aquaponics solution, and it is evident in the work he is accomplishing through Urban Aquaponics. He is drawn to the system by how it mimics a natural cycle of waste being re-cycled to enhance nature. “Aquaponics is a recirculation system, no water is wasted except for some evaporation. We created a solution that has 560 000L in the system and we use a maximum of 12 000L per month,” he says. “In other systems, although they re-use the water, it is irrigated and lost in soil based systems. In comparison to this, traditional farming uses 50 000L of water per hour per hectare,” he adds. He highlights that through traditional farming, mother nature creates nutrients for plants (nitrates), which are often diluted by extra water supplies. In an aquaponic system, everything is re-circulated and recycled until all is absorbed. According to Mahlangu, a greenhouse holds humidity, so almost all “losses” are plant transpiration and the rest gets recycled. She grew up in a mining town in Witbank, while there, her goal was always to advance measures to help acid mine drainage harmed rivers, to acquire treatment and reach drinking water standards. She believes pairing this with a recirculating aquaponics system can turn regions previously used for mining into areas that can produce steady food supplies. She says that aquaponics systems are best suited for leafy greens, herbs, and indigenous vegetables especially fast growing and high-value crops like lettuce, basil, kale, tsunga, mizuna, morogo, sorghum seedlings, and broadleaf. “You can grow tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers too. Root crops are not ideal unless you use adapted systems. In essence, any crop that thrives on nutrient rich water, grows quickly, and benefits from controlled environments can be farmed exclusively through aquaponics,”she says. “It is ideal for restaurants, retailers and communities that want clean, consistent produce all year round.”
Eliminating climate induced food shortages
In the NGO Nexus, a report produced by INMED South Africa, aquaponics is heralded as an industrialisation tool that is redefining productivity in agriculture. The method increases crop yield. Secondly, it diversifies income streams by providing fresh produce and fish simultaneously. It further highlights that aquaponics system has positive adoption forecast in scenarios where it is integrated as an employment enabler and productivity enhancer. Sihlahla believes that when communities are supported to own and manage these systems themselves, through cooperatives or social enterprises, they are positioned to direct the narrative from “beneficiaries of aid” to “producers and business owners”. “It is becoming more prevalent to adopt climate-resilient agriculture because the risks we used to talk about as “future threats” are everyday realities for farmers,” says Sihlahla. “Around the communities I work with, we see unpredictable seasons, more frequent shocks, rising input costs and constantly growing pressure to feed more people,” he says. Although he developed his system 16 years ago, Strauch believes that there is not enough university backed research on aquaponics. Indicating that innovating the invention could yield further positive results. “Our president noted, in his first SONA, that Aquaponics will be taught at schools. This would enable young people to start their own systems from an early age,” he says. To their disappoitment, this has not materialised and although many meetings were held, it has come to a dead end, he adds. “Aquaponics and Aquaculture does not use a natural resource such as sea fisheries. We create the resource by breading fresh water fish. In reality, not much different if compared to sheep and chicken farming,” he adds. Although he admits that acquiring permits for aquaponics is a tedious processes plagued with over-regulation and restrictions around fish farming, the solution is unlocking a great modernisation story for agriculture.
Boost for urban based farming
Mahlangu highlights that the system uses 90% less water than soil farming, because the water is continuously recirculated instead of lost to evaporation or drainage. In drought prone regions, mining towns, urban spaces set for farming but water and land scarcity pose a challenge, this matters. “The system removes risks tied to soil degradation, pests, and unpredictable seasons. You can farm 365 days a year, even during heatwaves because you control temperature, shade, pH, and oxygen,” she says. “The invention turns water into a strategic asset, not a vulnerability. For South African farmers facing climate extremes, it is a way to stay proactive without competing with household water needs,” she adds. She runs House Harvest, a climate smart aquaponics operation that integrates fish farming, indigenous crops, black soldier fly feed, and solar energy on one site. The operation farms Mozambique tilapia and catfish and grows a range of vegetables, including basil, lettuce, tsunga, peppers, and rare heritage crops. Strauch is eccstatic about the improvements that new discoveries being introduced in agriculture are bringing, as it is an infrastructure challenged sector. Citing that due to these improvements, there are fewer farming operations that have had to shut down over the last 18 months. He notes that it is the financial viability that determines which crops are grown using aquaponics, as plants grow almost three times faster that in soil and turnaround times are critical ensuring the maximum use of the infrastructure. He says in the case of tomatoes and cucumbers, where the market demand is reasonably saturated and these cultivars use more space than leafy greens per m2.
