Tanesha Wallace dreamed of starting her own commercial agri-business one day.

For the past few years, she had been struggling to help support her widowed mother and younger siblings in Montego Bay, St James, and saw aquaponics as a means to improve her family’s livelihood and food security.

The life-long gardener and nature enthusiast watched dozens of YouTube videos and experimented with a home system, but admitted that it was not as easy as it looked.

So, imagine her delight when Wallace learned of a new programme by INMED Partnerships for Children to help smallholder farmers, women, and youth launch aquaponics enterprises in Jamaica.… Read the rest...

Marcus Sewell is a 33-year-old emerging aquaponics farmer in Spanish Town, St. Catherine. He became interested in aquaponics two years ago when he was surfing YouTube and came across a how-to video on building a home system. It sparked his interest, so he decided to design a system that would feed his family and provide high-quality produce to sell to his community.

After a lot of research, Marcus constructed a float-and-drain aquaponics system with five grow beds, two filters (bio filter and swirl filter), sump tank and fish tank. He planted basil, dill, cilantro, cucumber, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, parsley, kale, tomato, pepper and arugula in his grow beds.… Read the rest...

Our first aquaponics training course for farmers in Jamaica was filled to capacity! Smallholder farmers and aspiring agriculture entrepreneurs gathered for three days of intensive training to help them launch aquaponics businesses to increase their incomes, strengthen food security for their families and communities, and adapt to climate change realities. Soil degradation from centuries of sugar cane cultivation as well as overfishing and water pollution make aquaponics a critical solution for Jamaica’s future. Learn about INMED’s Increasing Access to Climate-Smart Agriculture at https://inmedcaribbean.org.

INMED’s Increasing Access to Climate-Smart Agriculture (IACA) program provides a comprehensive approach to sustainability, with technical and business training, access to affordable loans, ongoing technical assistance and links to markets for high-quality aquaponic fish and produce.… Read the rest...