A Proposal for the

TILAPIA/GARDEN MINI-FARM PROJECT

MISSION STATEMENT

The primary development focus of Family Outreach is to bring a living  hope to at risk children and families through empowering local leaders by enabling them to provide food, health, education, housing and business opportunities to their community.

Tilapia/Garden Mini-Farm Project

PROPOSAL SUMMARY

The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reported that agriculture

and rural economic activities are essential for growth, poverty reduction and food security for

under developed countries.  However, land-based agriculture development is becoming

increasingly limited.  Consequently, the sea and fishery sector now play a critical roles in

developing food resources for poor and undernourished countries.  Over the last two decades

aquaculture (fish farming) has become a viable farming alternative for food insecure countries.

Tilapia farming, the nurturing and harvesting of tilapia fish, is a prime example of aquaculture. 

Tilapia farming is a self-sustaining fish harvest initiative specifically designed to enhance food

production, produce a nutritional source of food to reduce malnutrition, and encourage economic

sustainability with a viable and marketable product. The Tilapia Farming Project is a self-sustaining fish farming program that allows for the conservation of natural resources while providing a nutritional source of food to present and future generations.  

Family Outreach’s goal is to provide the necessary training, supplies, and means to help

impoverished families increase the potential of marine living resources to meet social, economic

and nutritional needs.

A gift of $1445 will establish one, 250 gallon tilapia pond and 9 - 16 sq ft. hydroponics gardens that will benefit an entire family with enough food to eat and to sell to neighbors.

STATEMENT OF NEED

Food availability for many families in the districts of Las Americas, San Louis, Monte Plata, of the Dominican Republic is at crisis levels for many unemployed families.  Food deficiency in these impoverished communities is due to vulnerability to environmental factors such as droughts, floods, loss of agriculture jobs, as well as inadequate governmental policies.  Fats, animal proteins, and micronutrients are particularly absent among the low-income population groups.

Children who lack sufficient sources of nutrients are malnourished and suffer from growth retardation.

A recent survey by the Mother/Child Health organization reported that growth retardation is a major problem, which is associated with malnutrition/lack of essential nutrients.  And, the situation of growth retardation becomes worse with increasing age, and affects males and females in the same way. It is most serious among the indigenous, rural populations, those with a low level of education and economic opportunities.

Low-income, food-deficient communities must find immediate and alternative ways to enhance their diminishing food supply and increase nutritional intake among the rural poor.  Aquaculture in partnership with Hydroponics has proven to be one of the world’s fastest growing food production systems.   Both are an environmentally sound and cost-effective means  for developing communities to improve food supply and enhance dietary intake.  In addition, aquaculture and hydroponics has proven to be a viable means of fostering economic development within rural communities.

Aquaculture is the farming of aquatic organism such as fish. Hydroponics is the farming of plants such as salad vegetables in nutrient rich water with out the traditional use of dirt. We combine both aquaponics and hydroponics systems into an interdependent Mini-Farm where one system provides for the needs of the other. T he fish water is an excellent nutrient rich, organic fertilizer that increases the salad vegetable yield substantially. The combination of fish aquaponics with vegetable hydroponics is a productive symbiotic relationship where the fish provide the nutrients, and the plants clean and oxygenate the water for the fish. In this case the fish waste water is solar pump circulated through the roots of the vegetables in the accompanying, stacked on top, garden trays. The vegetable garden purified water is then recycled back into the Tilapia tank.

It is an environmentally sound and cost-effective channel for developing communities to augment food supply and enhance nutritional intake.  Tilapias are one of the most efficient feed to food species for the production of food. Food conversion is 1:1.2, meaning that for every 1.2 pounds of food you feed a Tilapia, will produce a pound of fish. The feed to food ratio with chickens or cattle is more like 3:1 or 10:1, where you will feed them 3-10 pounds of feed to get one pound of meat.

Over the years, Family Outreach has developed a variety of programs to help impoverished communities remedy immediate dilemmas while working toward sustainable solutions that promote a promising future for generations to come. The Mini-Farm Project is a self-sustaining fish and vegetable farming initiative that utilizes recycled Industrial Bulk Liquid Containers as well as existing natural resources. This project provides a significant nutritional value to food-deficit families, and is a viable methodology for family economic opportunity. The whole Mini-Farm is totally self contained and transportable. This feature opens this technology to at risk families who rent a house with a yard or an apartment with a patio.

Aquaculture has contributed in the past towards poverty reduction in poor societies in the few areas of the world in which it is traditional practice -- China, Indonesia and Vietnam.  And, the practice continues to provide economic opportunities and an abundant source of nutritional food resource to developing countries today.  Non-traditional areas for aquaculture (i.e. Asia and Africa) reveal that poor farmers can successfully adopt aquaculture where certain predisposing conditions are met:

• Consumers must perceive the value of fish and vegetable garden and this must be reflected in market demand.
• Farmers must have a desire to work to rise above their current circumstance and must perceive the value in the Mini-Farm business opportunity.
• Farmers must be supplied with knowledge of appropriate technology and resources to ensure successfully harvest.
• A supply of seed and fingerlings.
• Institutional support for new entrant farmers that can provide training and feedback.

Family Outreach’s goal is to introduce the practices of aquaculture and hydroponics to the food deficit communities of Las Americas, San Louis, and Monte Plata District of the Dominican Republic. This project serves as a viable means to provide a low-cost, sustainable accessible nutrition source to the poor.  The Tilapia/Garden is proven to be a successful sustainable aquaculture/hydroponics symbiotic project.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The Tilapia/Garden Mini-Farm Project is a Dominican Intervention of Family Outreach, whereby the communities of Las Americas, San Louis, and Monte Plata produce tilapia and garden fresh vegetables in their Back Yard or Patio Mini-Farm for personal consumption and economic sustainability.  A tilapia/garden Mini-Farm generally consists of two parts; a 250 gallon Tilapia rearing tank and accompanying vegetable grow beds. A pre-selected family will manage a Mini-Farm so each can accommodate over 100 fish and enough garden space for a continuously harvested salad garden to eat and sell to neighbors. They will receive training on how to cultivate and harvest tilapia and vegetables, as well as receive best practices on how to distribute as marketable products.

The goal of this project is to provide a marketable food source that will provide a family with continuous sustainable production,. A tilapia/garden Mini-Farm can generate over 100 pounds of tilapia every six months along with ever growing/harvesting of fresh vegetables.  Starting with an initial number of fingerlings, farmers will nurture and cultivate young tilapias (fingerlings) until the fish have grown to size -- ½ to 1lb. Now they are ready for consumption or the market.  The entire Tilapia grow out process takes about 6-9 months. Salad greens can be available in 6 weeks.

Under the guidance of Family Outreach, the family will follow set price guide (retail price is set at a below-average price to ensure accessibility to low-income consumers) and marketing strategies for selling the product to the public.  Portions of each harvest will be donated to local feeding centers and orphanages. Incomes from sales are reinvested into the production process to insure a repeating sustaining harvest from one season to the next.

Your gift of $1735.00 will cover the cost of materials, start-up resources, supplies, training and follow up supervision for the successful implementation of one Mini-Farm consisting of a 250 gallon Tilapia rearing tank accompanied with 9 matching, 16 sq ft each, garden trays. This is a turn key sustainable solution, for a food deficit at risk family. Family Outreach promotes as a not for profit foundation. A comparable store purchased system sell for over $8,000 with out installation, personal training or follow up support.

TILAPIA FARMING PROJECT : BUDGET

Most verbiage for this proposal came from Food for the Poor’s Proposal: http://www.deaconkevin.org/images/FFTP.pdf