As Libya battles drought and climate change, a young farmer near Tripoli is pioneering aquaponics \u2014 a soil-free, water-efficient method that uses fish waste to grow crops. Could this closed-loop system offer a lifeline for the country\u2019s struggling agriculture sector?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
n a small green oasis outside Tripoli, 24-year-old Abdallah Elfandi is defying Libya\u2019s harsh climate with an innovative approach to agriculture<\/a>. His aquaponics<\/a> farm, HydroHarvest, is a closed-loop system where fish and plants thrive together in water<\/a> \u2014not soil. As Libya grapples with extreme heat, prolonged droughts<\/a>, and a failing irrigation infrastructure, Elfandi is proving that sustainable, water-efficient farming is not only possible, but necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Libya\u2019<\/a>s traditional farmers, like Mohamed Al Zawawi, face a bleak future. Once able to fill four trucks with chard and pomegranates, Al Zawawi now struggles to fill even one. With aging water networks and little government support, he is calling for investment in desalination<\/a> to keep farming viable. In stark contrast, Elfandi\u2019s aquaponics system recycles water between fish tanks and floating vegetable beds, using nutrients from tilapia waste to feed crops like lettuce, mint, and kale. His farm operates pesticide-free and produces both organic vegetables and fish with minimal resource use \u2014 an ideal model for arid regions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Backed by a \u20ac20,000 EU grant, Elfandi is already seeing success and is keen to share his methods. He\u2019s added Azolla, a protein-rich aquatic plant, to his system to curb evaporation and feed his fish. With a growing customer base and a passion for food security, Elfandi sees his work as a blueprint for others. “Change is coming,” he says. Even traditional farmers like Al Zawawi are now exploring hydroponics. In a country where climate change is rewriting the rules of farming<\/a>, innovation like Elfandi\u2019s isn\u2019t just welcome\u2014it\u2019s essential.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":331,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":true},"published-in-videos":[19],"class_list":["post-281","videos","type-videos","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","published-in-videos-dw"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/islamalatrash.com\/gifipum\/wp\/v2\/videos\/281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/islamalatrash.com\/gifipum\/wp\/v2\/videos"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/islamalatrash.com\/gifipum\/wp\/v2\/types\/videos"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/islamalatrash.com\/gifipum\/wp\/v2\/media\/331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/islamalatrash.com\/gifipum\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"published-in-videos","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/islamalatrash.com\/gifipum\/wp\/v2\/published-in-videos?post=281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Aquaponics: an alternative to traditional farming<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
A blueprint for food security amid climate change in Libya<\/h2>\n\n\n\n