AquaFarms Africa’s mission is to address the problems of food security and food sovereignty across Africa by making urban agriculture broadly accessible through a unique social franchising model, unlocking the wealth opportunity in the food space for local entrepreneurs and reducing carbon imprints from food importation and logistics.
Aquaponics, the combination of fish farming and soilless agriculture, is generally considered more efficient than traditional farming for several reasons. It is more productive per square meter, making it particularly suitable for urban farming, and requires 95% less water than traditional agriculture. Aquaponics is also completely organic thereby reducing toxic runoff and minimizing harmful environmental effects.
In addition to efficiency, AquaFarms systems allow for climate-controlled farming thus facilitating year-round harvesting of normally imported niche products. The ability to sustainably offer speedy farm-to-table delivery of these high-value products to our target customers – hotels, restaurants, supermarkets and corporations – allows young urban farmers to obtain greater incomes, increasing their food security and repatriating monies spent in international markets. AquaFarms also produce 5-10 times more than traditional agriculture, allowing farmers to serve this niche customer base while also providing nutritious vegetable and fish product to their communities and families at affordable pricing.
Africa is home to the youngest population in the world with over 600 million under the age of 25. As of now, 72% of African youth are under or unemployed 11 million youths are expected to enter the labor market every year for the next decade. Although agriculture is often lauded as Africa’s greatest potential for job creation, urban youth are often left out of the equation despite being the largest unemployed population on the continent.
Our adaptation of social franchising allows us to build food sovereignty through local ownership of the value chain, thereby creating jobs, sharing wealth and reducing youth unemployment in urban areas. Our concept gives new entrepreneurs a business-in-a box opportunity allowing them to focus on production, while AquaFarms Africa manages other areas of the operational value chain such as site selection, procurement, marketing, sales and logistics. Our AquaFarms are also locally made and cost efficient. By introducing innovative farming techniques in an urban environment, we include urban youth in the agricultural conversation and transform our cityscapes.
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