PUPILS at a Vaal Triangle school are among the first in the country to grow vegetables through aquaponics, which uses fish farming and gravel instead of soil.The technique works in a closed system where nutrients from fish tanks feed gravel grow beds. The gravel also works as a filter for the water and clean oxygenated water is then pumped back to the fish tanks.The system uses 80%-90% less water than traditional farming methods.Through a partnership between Air Products, a supplier and distributor of specialty gases, and Inmed, an international, philanthropic, nonprofit organisation, Carel de Wet Technical High School in Vanderbijlpark says it is the first school in South Africa to operate the largest commercial aquaponics unit in the country.The project aims to address poverty and hunger in the area and also to get more pupils in the country interested in agriculture as a career.According to Food Bank SA, about 11-million people in the country do not know where their next meal wil...
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