Tags: Agribusiness, Aquaculture
By Edzelle Peña
TAYABAS, QUEZON — What started out as an ingenious solution to dispose of chicken manure grew to a productive system that not only eliminates waste but also grows fishes and plants.
Andy Alquiros, owner of Gallali’s Integrated Zero Waste Farm in Tayabas, Quezon, first had the idea of using vermiculture to help solve the problem of disposing tons and tons of manure from 90,000 broilers in his poultry business. Later on, he was able to integrate aquaponics and organic farming to further improve the operations in his farm.
Vermiculture is a method of composting using earthworms to speed up the process. In 2007 Alquiros started doing this technique with 2 kilos of African Nightcrawlers (Eudrilus euginae), a species of earthworms that normally matures in six months and quickly reproduces. Now, he grows about a ton of them.
The worms feed off chicken manure mixed with other biodegradable materials such as leaves, paper and rice straw. The vermicast is the byproduct that earthworms excrete and compost when they digest food. It is considered one of the best organic fertilizers.
Alquiros was engrossed by the unstinted benefits of the system. Not only does it effectively eliminate waste, it also gets rid of the foul smell in his farm. Extending the many benefits of his vermiculture process, he decided to adopt two new technologies — aquaponics and organic farming.
Aquaponics is the combination of aquaculture and hydroponics. It is a process that uses highly nutritious fish effluent that contains almost all the required nutrients for optimum growth. In a 6m x 4 ½ m tank containing 50m3 of water, Alquiros grows about 2,500 fingerlings of cream dory fish. Water lilies, which also serve as food for the fishes, thrive in this tank.
In his own aquaponics system, water from the fish tank is continuously pumped over media filled beds where plants grow in the gravel medium. The plants serve as filters. Roots extract nutrients and elements from the water which they need to grow but are harmful to fishes, like nitrogen. The water that passes through the beds comes back to the tank clean. It is a self-sustaining flow cycle that efficiently runs on a half horse power pump, twelve hours a day. On the beds, different kinds of vegetables and herbs are abundantly growing.
According to Alquiros, all three technologies are very well integrated such that nothing is wasted. Hence the name, integrated zero waste.
“The fish, I feed with the mortality of my chicken. I just boil it, grind it and then feed it to them. So then, the food of my fishes is free. The water lilies, aside from being a source of food to my fishes, I use as an additional component in my vermiculture. And then finally, I use the vermicast of my worms as fertilizers for the plants that I grow. When the worms become too much, I also feed them to my fishes.”
Alqurios devised a system that has very little input yet produces a lot of benefits. In growing his plants, the water from the fish tank serves as the main nourishment. No other chemicals or fertilizers are added. The fishes thrive because the water is always clean and food is abundant.
Cost is very minimal. Alquiros said he doesn’t even spend on water because it is re-circulating and only a negligible amount is lost. It only takes three people to maintain the 700 sq.m. garden. They are mainly in-charge of feeding the fishes and planting the seedlings.
Alquiros has a total of four vermiculture in his farm which produce an average of 100 kilos of vermicast a day. He sells this at P10 per kilo. A number of herbs and vegetables are also growing in his garden. Among these are lettuce, onions, lemon grass, carrots, buttercup, romaine, tarragon, oregano and basil. He even grows around 80 dwarf lemon trees which are very expensive in the market. Alquiros also uses herb extracts as additives to his chickens which replaced their chemical vitamins. He said these make the chickens bigger and healthier.
All these technologies Alqurios learned through years of research and practice. He said it was never easy applying the technologies.
“When I started before, all my first batch of worms died, and so did my fishes. Sometimes, it’s really different when you study it on paper. When you actually do it, what’s supposed to happen doesn’t always happen. So, practice really makes perfect.”
Alqurios added that consistently studying about these processes is key.
“Some people think that if you go into business, you invest in it, you get money right away. But actually there are a lot of things you have to learn about it. And, you can easily find a lot of information in the internet.”
For the past two years, Alquiros said that what he’s basically been doing is all experimentation. He continually finds ways on how he can improve the system thus, better benefit from it. In fact, he plans to expand his project by getting more worms and putting up three or four more tanks where he would grow tilapia and ulang (freshwater shrimp).
Gallali’s Integrated Zero Waste Farm also sells the following products: 1) vermicast (P10/kilo); 2) organic foliar fertilizer (P500/liter); 3) organic pesticide (P500/liter); 4) Organic acids for livestock (P500/liter); 5) organic vegetables (P100/kilo) and; 6) organic fertilizer (P20/sack).
The farm is located at Brgy. Anos, Tayabas Quezon and may be contacted at (042) 797-0150 or 0917-5600-168.
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I am planning to put up aquaponic farm in my 3hec. farmland in Albay Bicol. At this time I am working in Saudi Arabia and next year, I am going for good and I will start this type of farming. Could you please give me advice regarding this new farming technology?
Thank you so much.
Best regards,
Clemente Quino